Mark Damon was an actor and producer who starred in Roger Corman’s (1926–2024) “House of Usher” and went on to a groundbreaking career in independent film distribution.
- Died: May 12, 2024 (Who else died on May 12?)
- Details of death: Died in Los Angeles of natural causes at the age of 91.
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Mark Damon’s legacy
Damon got his start in Hollywood in the early 1950s, with some of his first roles coming on such TV shows as “Meet Corliss Archer,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and “The Californians.” He broke through in 1960 with his starring role alongside Vincent Price (1911–1993) in “House of Usher.” He won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Male Newcomer for his performance as Philip Winthrop.
A few years later, Damon’s career was profoundly changed when he relocated to Italy. He initially planned to continue as an actor, and he did spend more than a decade starring in spaghetti westerns. However, he became tired of playing cowboys, and the work was beginning to dry up. He approached an Italian film distributor about a job and quickly began learning another side of the movie business.
Damon touted himself to the distributor as an American with valuable connections in Hollywood, but at first, he struggled to leverage those relationships. Hollywood studios were more likely to sell international distribution rights to big studios than to smaller companies representing individual countries. But Damon kept pushing, later striking out on his own as the founder of Producers Sales Organization.
When Damon’s company gained the distribution rights for Sergio Leone’s (1929–1989) “Once Upon a Time in America,” it represented the beginning of a major shift in movie distribution. Independent distributors began to be seen as viable, often replacing the major studios for international film dispensing.
Damon also worked as a producer, including on such notable films as “Das Boot,” “The Neverending Story,” “9-1/2 Weeks,” “The Lost Boys,” and “Monster.”
Notable quote
“If you don’t succeed in the field of your dreams, you may one day succeed in the field you never dreamed of. That’s the story of my career.” — from a 2014 interview for SydneysBuzz
Tributes to Mark Damon
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
