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Kent Osborne aka Ken Osborne is a film director and occasional actor. The films he has directed have mainly been exploitation types. His films include Wild Wheels in 1969, Cain's Cutthroats in 1971, The Ballad of Billie Blue in 1972, Women Unchained in 1974 and Hollywood Confidential in 2008.

Career (director)

1960s

His earliest directorial work includes Raw Love which was released in 1965. It featured Suzanne Anderson and Mike Perry. Osborne both directed the 1996 biker exploitation flick Wild Wheels as well as co-writing the story. The film starred Don Epperson, Robert Dix, Casey Kasem, Terry Stafford, and Dovie Beams who would later find notoriety for her affair with President Ferdinand Marcos. During the filming of Wild Wheels, Osborne was shooting a segment with a foreground and background scene. He told the men in the background that he wanted some fighting but he forgot to tell them it was only supposed to be faked. Some of it got carried away and Osborne was yelling at them to stop it and repeatedly to cut.

1970s to 1980s

He found a good degree of success with Cain's Cutthroats aka The Blood Seekers, a sleazy violent vengeance western that was set in the civil war era, which starred John Carradine, Scott Brady, Robert Dix, Darwin Joston, and Adair Jameson. Osborne directed and co-wrote the story for The Ballad of Billie Blue, a Christian-themed film with a warning message which was about a country singer who ends up in jail then finds stardom with gospel music. The film premiered in Grand Rapids, Michigan in February, 1972, also opened Thursday April 20, 1972 at the Holland Theatre and was showing for a week. It was nominated for two Image Awards. Women Unchained , which he directed was a story about five women who during a riot, try to escape from a maximum security prison and while on the run will do what it takes to get to the Mexican border.

1990s to 2000s

In 2008, Hollywood Confidential was released. It starred Vernon Wells, Joe Estevez, James MacPherson, and Jesse Hlubik.

Career (actor)

His earliest acting roles included Dragnet in 1954, Good Morning, Miss Dove and The View from Pompey's Head. He played the bartender in the 1969 horror film Nightmare in Wax, a Bud Townsend directed film which starred Cameron Mitchell, Scott Brady and Anne Helm. Osborne played the part of Dave Miller in the Al Adamson directed Five Bloody Graves, which was released around 1969, 1970. He played the part of Sergeant Osborne in the Ewing Miles Brown film The Stoneman which was released around 2002. The film starred Christopher Atkins, Pat Morita and Robin Riker.

He passed away at his West Hollywood, California home on February 20, 2024 at age 97 of natural causes.

Filmography list

References

1. Turner Classic Movies - Raw Love(1965), Cast & Crew
2. Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s, by Brian Albright - Page 49
3. TV Guide - Wild Wheels, Cast & Crew
4. Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s, by Brian Albright - Page 55 Robert Dix
5. The Sleaze Merchants: Adventures in Exploitation Filmmaking from the ’50s to the 90s, edited by John McCarty - Al Adamson
6. American Film Institute - Cain's Way (1970)
7. American Film Institute - The Ballad of Billie Blue (1972)
8. Celluloid Sermons: The Emergence of the Christian Film Industry, 1930-1986, By Terry Lindvall, Andrew Quicke - Page 162
9. Turner Classic Movies - The Ballad of Billie Blue(1972)
10. The Holland Evening Sentinel, Friday, April 21, 1972 - Page 15 'Billie Blue' in Holland
11. Video Hounds Golden Movie Retrievee 2001 - Page xlix
12. Letterboxd - Women Unchained 1974 Directed by Ken Osborne
13. Interfilmes.com - •Nome, Ken Osborne, Filmes no Site:
14. EOFFTV - Nightmare in Wax (1969), CREDITS
15. Rotten Tomatoes - Five Bloody Graves (1970)
16. Prehistoric Humans in Film and Television, By Michael Klossner - Page 264
17. Filmweb - The Stoneman (2002), pełna obsada i twórcy, przejdź do:obsada (23), obsada
18. IMDb - Ken Osborne (I), Filmography - Director, Makeup Department, Writer, Sound department, Producer, Art department, Production manager, Miscellaneous Crew
19. IMDb - Ken Osborne (I), Filmography, Actor

External links

• Kent Osborne at IMDb
• Kent Osborne at AFI

• Film directors from Los Angeles
• American male film actors
• Living people