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Bill Rebane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Rebane
Born
Ito Rebane
February 8, 1937 (age 76)
Riga, Latvia
Nationality American
Other names Bill Rebane
Education Art Institute of Chicago
Occupation
Film director
Film producer
Screenwriter
Years active 1963 – present
Known for Low budget films
Notable work(s) The Giant Spider Invasion, Twist Craze
Spouse(s) Barbara J.
Baron[1] Bill Rebane (born February 8, 1937) is an American film director, producer,and screenwriter. He is best known for low budget horror movies such as Twist Craze
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and The Giant Spider Invasion.[2][3][4] Rebane also ran for the governor of Wisconsin in1979 and 2002 as the American Reform Party candidate.[3][5]
Contents
1 Biography 2 Accomplishments
o 2.1 Recognition 3 Career
o 3.1 Post-college o 3.2 Baltes and Cinema Scope o 3.3 Early film production o 3.4 Radio o 3.5 First science fiction project o 3.6 Studio Bendestorf o
3.7 The Shooting Ranch o 3.8 Additional projects o 3.9 Filmography
3.9.1 Films 3.9.2 Television
o 3.10 Critical response o 3.11 Bibliography
4 References o 4.1 Addition reference materials
5 Further reading 6 External links
Biography
Rebane came to the United States from Estonia in 1952 at age 15.[3] His mother wasLatvian and his father, Arnold Rebane, was Estonian.
He attended school in post-war Germany as a child, becoming conversant in four languages: Estonian, Latvian, German and Russian. By watching American cinema, hewas able to master English.[3] He attended the Art Institute of Chicago/GoodmanTheatre, majoring in drama.[3]
Accomplishments
Rebane is credited with the introduction of the first 360 degree (wrap around) motion picture process to the Motion Picture Industry of the world, an innovation that spurredthe Cinemax process and today's Rotascope cameras; as the creator of the WisconsinFilm Office; as the producer, director, writer, and cinematographer on 12 independentfeature films, all of which have enjoyed successful international theatrical release; as
producer/director of one of the fifty top-grossing films 1975 (The Giant Spider
Invasion, $23 million gross in 1975); as having produced, directed, edited, and production designed at least one hundred commercial, industrial, corporate image,documentary or promotion films; and for the creation and successful operation of thefirst full-time feature film studio in the Midwest for over 30 years.[3]
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Recognition
In October 2009, Rebane received the Wisconsin Filmmaker 'Lifetime AchievementAward', presented to him at the 2009 Madison Horror Film Festival.[6]
Career
Post-college
Rebane's first positions in media included working for WGN-TV in Chicago, where heworked his way through the ranks, beginning with a position in the mailroom, and thenas floor manager, assistant producer, and assistant to executive producer .[2] Partaking in
production of various live television broadcasts, also allowed him the opportunities asan actor and singer, resulting in appearances on such shows as the courtroom dramaseries They Stand Accused and the syndicated musical-variety series The International
Cafe.
Baltes and Cinema Scope
Rebane returned to Germany at age 19, where he met and worked with producer Adalbert Baltes of Hamburg, Germany. Rebane credits working with Baltes as his startin the film industry. After working with Baltes as a production assistant, assistantdirector, and director on various 'Cinema Scope Theatrical Short Subjects' for 'BaltesFilm', Rebane obtained the U.S. rights to the 'Cinetarium' circular motion picture
process.[3][ full citation needed ]
Rebane returned to the U.S. and introduced the proprietary process to the world filmindustry through 'United Film and Recording Studios' in Chicago, attracting suchnotables as Samuel Goldwyn, Roy Disney, Jack Warner , Hugh Hefner , and MichaelTodd Jr. to the process, along with industry professionals from Russia, central Europeand Japan.
By age 22, Rebane was a millionaire. However, his early wealth was temporary, ascosts of patents, legal fees, and research into means to manufacture vertical projectionsystems, were at the time beyond the financial means of the companies he had formedfor development of the process.
Early film production
Rebane then turned to film production. His first independent production effort was theten-minute musical theatrical short subject called Twist Craze which was purchased byAmerican International Pictures. The film became an international success boththeatrically and financially, and enjoyed a 10-week holdover at the Oriental Theater inChicago, which until that time, was an unheard phenomenon for independent shortsubject theatrical productions. The film earned twenty times its production cost.
Rebane followed this success with a 20-minute theatrical musical short titled Dance
Craze, which surpassed the success of Twist Craze, ultimately being purchased byCrown International Pictures for international release.
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Radio
Rebane's interests in media, and performance, and with the professional contacts he hadmade, led to his position as co-host of the Germania broadcast at Chicago's WGES radio station, at the time the largest and most popular German-language broadcast in
America. As a daily evening one-hour live show, it allowed Rebane to create, produce,and host other radio shows on WKFM, Chicago's first FM station, as well as leavingtime open for his day job as national public relations director and assistant advertisingdirector for the American distributor for the German firm Grundig Radio.
First science fiction project
In 1961 Rebane decided to make a feature film,[2] and in 1963 he began production of the science fiction feature film Terror at Halfway, starring June Travis and Peter Thompson, which marked Rebane's becoming the first producer in Chicago to tackle anindependent feature film production with a full union crew and screen actors guildtalent. A chance meeting with Ronald Reagan nearly attached Reagan to the film.however, Rebane’s financial contacts would not go along, claiming Reagan was a "has
been" and not worth the investment. Unable to finance the completion of the film,Rebane sold his completed footage to Herschell Gordon Lewis. Lewis went on tocomplete the film and release the film as Monster A Go-Go in 1965.
Studio Bendestorf
At age 23, Rebane returned to Germany as executive-in-charge of U.S. co-productionsfor 'Studio Bendestorf', in Bendestorf , Germany, in which he had an interest, opening
offices in Chicago and Hollywood. Commuting to and from Germany on a bi-weekly basis, Rebane dealt with the major studios to attract producers to Germany and lower costs of production.[3] Some films which found a partial or full home for production atRebane's Bendestorf Studio facility and through Rebane's contact efforts included
Dollar (Goldie Hawn / Scott Brady), How I Won the War (John Lennon), and The
Odessa File (Jon Voight).[3]
The Shooting Ranch
In the late 1960s, Rebane purchased a farm property near Gleason, Wisconsin andmoved there with his family. Apart from the property being used to raise cattle and
horses, it also eventually became home to Rebane's studio 'The Shooting Ranch',[7] thefacility which was the first full-time feature film studio in the Midwest.[3] 'The ShootingRanch', held the position of "first and only" for over 30 years, eventually growing to200 acres (0.81 km2), and producing hundreds of commercials, industrial, and corporateimage films, plus a number theatrical features for international theatrical theatricaldistribution and exposure.[3]
Rebane acknowledges fellow filmmaker, producer Jerry Gregoris of Chicago, for allowing Rebane directorial and post-production responsibilities and subsequent creditson industrial films made for such clients as the Teamsters union, the Republican Partyof Indiana, State Farm Insurance, the City of Chicago, and Wausau Insurance.[3]
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Rebane used his studio to produce and direct a number of sci-fi/horror films, the first being Invasion from Inner Earth (1974), screenwritten by his wife Barbara, it was shotin 1973 with the working title of The Selected .[8]
His next film project was The Giant Spider Invasion, starring Alan Hale Jr., Barbara
Hale, and Steve Brodie. The film grossed $23 million[3]
against its $325,000 productioncosts.[2] This was followed by Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1975), The Alpha
Incident (1978), The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), The Demons of Ludlow (1983) and The
Game (1984).[3]
In 1984 Rebane took a break from production to assume the Presidency of TheInternational Picture Show Company in Atlanta, where he took charge of internationaldistribution for such products as Falling in Love Again (Elliott Gould), Slapstick (JerryLewis), Land of No Return (William Shatner ), and many of the Don Knotts and TimConway comedy features.
In 1986, Rebane returned to 'The Shooting Ranch' and hosted a 1950s nostalgia concert.Among the invitees were Forrest Tucker , Jaye P. Morgan, Bill Haley's Comets, andTiny Tim. Rebane later cast Tiny Tim in Blood Harvest in the role of an insane clown,[9] which was Tim's first and last starring role.[10] Also in 1986, and due to Rebane'songoing efforts extending from 1969, Wisconsin passed legislation establishing theWisconsin Film Office.[3]
In 1987, Rebane released both Twister's Revenge! and Blood Harvest ,[3] and in 1989Rebane suffered a stroke, which illness and the costs it incurred led to the closure of hisstudio.[3]
Additional projects
In the mid-1990s, and after recovery, Rebane and his wife moved to Watersmeet,Michigan where he wrote the book Film funding two-thousand , and in 1999 he movedto Hurley, Wisconsin, where he and his wife ran a hotel and a new film productioncompany called 'Eagle's Nest Productions'.[3] He currently lives in Saxon, Wisconsin.[11]
In 2005 it was reported that Rebane was casting The UFO File, a film to bring him back to the science fiction genre.[11]
In 2008 he authored From Roswell with Love.
In 2011, Rebane is producing a musical based on his film The Giant Spider Invasion.
Filmography
Films
As director/producer [12][13][14]
Monster A Go-Go (1965) Invasion from Inner Earth (1974) The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
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Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1975) The Alpha Incident (1978) The Capture of Bigfoot (1979) The Demons of Ludlow (1983) The Game (1984)
Twister's Revenge! (1987) Blood Harvest (1987)
Television
Both Monster A Go-Go and The Giant Spider Invasion were featured on TV's "MysteryScience Theater 3000".
Critical response
Doug Moe of The Capital Times reported that Rebane's film The Giant Spider Invasion,
first released in 1975, has a growing cult following, selling out genre festivals such as itdid at the Wisconsin Film Festival in 2003.[11]
Bibliography
2000, Film funding two-thousand ISBN 0-9704283-0-8 2008, From Roswell with Love ISBN 1-4196-8399-3
References
1. Jump up ^ hereditary titled nobility" Baron" through his great-great-grandfather; Dr.Friedrich Willhelm Mac Donald, recipient of the Vlademier Cross and the order of St.Anne, Imperial Russia
2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Bluhm, Donald A. (November 3, 1991). "Sneak a preview as film isshot". Milwaukee Journal (Google News Archive). pp. H1 & H8. Retrieved June 28,2010.
3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Gilpatrick, Kristin (2002). Famous Wisconsin
film stars (illustrated ed.). Badger Books, Inc. pp. 247 – 253, 323, 328. ISBN 1-878569-86-4. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
4. Jump up ^ "Bill Rebane". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2010.5. Jump up ^ Van Beest, A. J. (2002). "Saxon Filmmaker Throws Hat In Gubernatorial
Ring". Ashland Daily Press (critcononline.com). Retrieved June 28, 2010.6. Jump up ^ "Horror film festival playing in Madison". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .
Associated Press. October 3, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2010.7. Jump up ^ McBain, Roger (December 5, 1984). "Star-studded state casts about for
work". Milwaukee Journal (Google News Archive). Retrieved June 28, 2010.8. Jump up ^ Christensen, Hal (December 10, 1973). "Movie Cameras Roll at
Tomahawk". Milwaukee Sentinel (Google News Archive). Retrieved June 28, 2010.9. Jump up ^ "Tiny Tim Bets on Movie To Renewal of His Fame". Schenectady Gazette
(Google News Archive). Associated Press. August 24, 1987. Retrieved June 28, 2010.10. Jump up ^ "Tiptoes Through Film". Free Lance-Star (Google News Archive).
Associated Press. August 26, 1987. Retrieved June 28, 2010.[dead link ] 11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Moe, Doug (March 4, 2005). "Wisconsin's Rebane casts new film".
Capital Times. Retrieved June 28, 2010.12. Jump up ^ Fischer, Dennis (2000). Science fiction film directors, 1895 – 1998.McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0740-9.
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13. Jump up ^ Young, R. G. (2000). The encyclopedia of fantastic film: Ali Baba to
Zombies (illustrated ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 1-55783-269-2. 14. Jump up ^ Weldon, Michael (1996). The psychotronic video guide (illustrated ed.).
Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-13149-6.
Addition reference materials
Who’s Who in Leading American Executives 1994 (U.S Registry)Gods in Polyester, or, a Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura by SuzanneDonahue, Succubus Press, 2004, ISBN 90-808700-1-3 Gods in Spandex, or, a Survivors' Account of 80's Cinema Obscura, by SuzanneDonahue, Succubus Press, 2007, ISBN 952-92-2409-5 Monthly publications:
Dun & Bradstreet Reports Nation's Business Wisconsin Report
Further reading
Film funding two-thousand by Bill Rebane From Roswell With Love by Bill Rebane Famous Wisconsin Movie Stars (Badger Books) Gods In Polyester, or, a Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura (Succubus
Press/2004)
Rebane contributed chapters on the making of The Giant Spider Invasion and
The Alpha Incident .
Gods In Spandex, or, a Survivors' Account of 80's Cinema Obscura (SuccubusPress/2007)
Rebane contributed chapters on the making of The Game, Demons of Ludlow,Twister's Revenge and Blood Harvest .
External links
Bill Rebane at the Internet Movie Database Official website
Authority control
VIAF: 87520955
ISNI: 0000 0000 7826 7670
GND: 14096844X
Retrieved from
"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Rebane&oldid=569512149 " Categories:
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1937 births Living people American people of Estonian descent Estonian emigrants to the United States American people of Latvian descent
People from Riga People from Iron County, Wisconsin Writers from Wisconsin American film directors Wisconsin politicians American Reform Party politicians
Source Material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rebane
More Info: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0714215/
Movies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_A_Go-Go
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_from_Inner_Earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giant_Spider_Invasion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croaked:_Frog_Monster_from_Hell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Capture_of_Bigfoot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demons_of_Ludlow