Gary Graver was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. In high school he
produced and starred in his own weekly radio show. Moving into acting,
he studied and performed at the Portland Civic Theatre and Grant High
School as well as being a child circus clown and magician. He built a
theater in his basement, showing 16mm films and producing plays for the
neighborhood kids.
At age 20 he moved to Hollywood to continue his studies. He studied
with Jeff Corey,
Douglas Fowley,
Lee J. Cobb and
Lucille Ball. Finding acting jobs
hard to come by, he switched to production work and produced and
directed a short film and a feature. He was soon drafted into the
military and shipped overseas, where he became a member of the U.S.
Navy Combat Camera Group. Not really being a cameraman, he went to all
the camera rental houses in Hollywood and picked up as much knowledge
as he could to prepare for his two-year tour of duty in the Far East,
including Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines.
After leaving the military, he worked in documentaries for a year
before getting into feature productions. After photographing such
"classics" as
Die Sadisten des Satans (1969) and
Draculas Bluthochzeit mit Frankenstein (1971),
he decided to call on Orson Welles--whom he
did not know nor had ever met--because he read that Welles was in town.
Welles explained that only one other cameraman had just called him up
and said he wanted to work with
him--Gregg Toland, who photographed
Citizen Kane (1941). Welles and
Graver immediately embarked on a series of half-hour shows for the
Sears department store chain. It was called "An Evening with Orson
Welles". It consisted of six stories told on film by Orson and then to
be transferred to a new, up-and-coming medium--videotape.
It was the beginning of a close friendship and creative filmmaking
partnership. In 1970 Graver, Welles and his collaborator,
Oja Kodar, started filming a feature project,
The Other Side of the Wind (2018).
The production of this movie was to take place over a period of five
years. Shooting was completed in Los Angeles in 1975 at the home of
Peter Bogdanovich, after a marathon
schedule that took the project to Arizona, France, Spain, Belgium, New
York, Hollywood, Yugoslavia, Italy and England. Because of a series of
legal entanglements the film was never brought through post-production,
although Welles left an edited 45-minute version and editing notes.
During this period, in 1973, Welles, Kodar and Graver made a feature in
Europe titled
F wie Fälschung (1973).
After that, Welles and Graver worked on many projects, including
Die großen Geheimnisse des Orson Welles (1979)
for TV syndication with
Burt Reynolds,
Angie Dickinson and
The Muppets. Other projects included
Orson Welles' Magic Show (1985)
and the essay film
Erinnerungen an 'Othello' (1978).
On the morning of Welles' death, he and Graver were to begin filming
"Julius Caesar" with Orson playing all of the parts. Two days
previously the stage had been pre-lit at the UCLA Theatre Arts
Department. Between times, in the midst of all the Welles projects,
Graver maintained his professional status as a first-rate Hollywood
cinematographer and shot many feature films for
Roger Corman:
Bloody Whiskey (1977),
Giganten mit stählernen Fäusten (1978) with
David Carradine and
Gib Gas... und laßt euch nicht erwischen (1977),
directed by Ron Howard. He also
photographed
Der Killer mit der Bohrmaschine (1978),
Dreizehn Stufen zum Terror (1980) with
Carrie Snodgress and
Ray Milland,
Hall of Death - Die Todeshalle (1982),
Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984)
and the remake of
Stagecoach - Höllenfahrt nach Lordsburg (1986) with
Willie Nelson,
Johnny Cash,
Kris Kristofferson and
Waylon Jennings.
For Disney Gary shot
Augen in der Dunkelheit (1984)
starring Timothy Bottoms,
Patricia Neal,
Eva Marie Saint,
Ernest Borgnine,
Ralph Bellamy and
Arthur Hill. In 1981 he directed
"The Boys" from his own screenplay, starring
Cameron Mitchell and his son,
Cameron Mitchell Jr.. This film was
subsequently ruined by the producer and distributor. The solid,
hard-hitting drama, as originally shot using the director's screenplay,
emerged as a stupid comedy released by Film Ventures International as
Texas Lightning (1981).
In 1982 Graver wrote, produced and directed a film called
Trick or Treats (1982). It
featured his son Chris Graver along
with David Carradine, Carrie Snodgress,
Steve Railsback,
Jacqueline Giroux,
Paul Bartel and
Jillian Kesner. In the 1980s Gary
photographed five TV "movies of the week" starring
Gary Coleman for NBC.
In 1986 he photographed
Party Camp (1987) for Vestron, which
had a limited theatrical release before going to video. The next year
was spent mostly on directing, photographing and editing
Blood Moon (1987) for Trans
World Entertainment. This supernatural thriller set on the high seas
with a vampire and astrological plot involving several decadent
characters was re-edited many times by the producers and then released
only on video, where it made money. Graver directed
John Phillip Law,
Britt Ekland,
William Smith,
Lewis Van Bergen, Jillian Kesner and
April Jayne. In 1988 he directed a comedy
farce,
Nerds of a Feather (1989),
featuring Pat McCormick and female
impersonator Charles B. Pierce,
producer Mario Milano and a cast of
midgets. Following this he produced and photographed
Jaded (1989). Set in Venice, California,
this offbeat psycho-drama was written and directed by
Oja Kodar. It starred Jillian Kesner and
Elisabeth Brooks. Welles also appears
in a cameo from the unseen clip of "Merchant of Venice", playing
Shylock. Also in 1988 Graver photographed
B.O.R.N. (1989), "Deadly Revenge"
(1988), Los Angeles Cop (1989),
Alienator - Der Vollstrecker aus dem All (1990),
L.A. Bounty (1989) and
Wizards of the Demon Sword (1991).
After photographing many shorts, TV movies, commercials and
documentaries (on Billy Wilder,
Douglas Sirk, NASA,
The Carradines Together (1979),
the Harlem Globetrotters, among
others) and music videos
(Kool & The Gang,
The Gap Band, Warlock, Hiroshima and
others) Gary concentrated on developing his own projects for production
and is planning to complete the unfinished Welles film, "The Other Side
of the Wind".
