It was with great sadness that this Fango contributor learned of the passing of Don Edmonds. You see, ever since I had the pleasure of meeting Don in 2003 (through another Fango writer, Paul Gaita), I have been humbled and honored to call him a friend. Having encountered ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE S.S. as a 19-year-old at university in Stirling, Scotland (it was banned in the UK at that time and remains in limbo to this day), I remember being shocked silly by the movie—and eager to find out who on Earth would have made such a thing! Luckily for me, the gentleman behind ILSA was a gentle, humble and very, very funny soul who was filled with great stories.

Don Edmonds’ legacy includes acting turns (he starred in the drive-in favorite GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN and the television series FLUBBER), but it is for the 1975 bad-taste classic ILSA that he will always be remembered. Perhaps the pivotal grindhouse shocker, ILSA still carries the power to shock to this day—while its sequel, 1976’s ILSA, HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHIEKS, is nothing short of a laugh riot: a dark, dark comedy farce that subverts the institutionalized misogyny of the House of Saud. To this day, it is one of this writer’s favorite trash titles.

Although Don would eventually creep into the mainstream (overseeing the production of 1988’s MIDNIGHT CROSSING, working on the development of 1993’s TRUE ROMANCE—for which he earned an executive-producer credit—and directing the pilot for the series SILK STALKINGS), he was never ashamed of his ILSA days or his subsequent low-budget work, including 1977’s excellent BARE KNUCKLES and 1980’s slasher opus TERROR ON TOUR.

Don was always a pleasure to meet whenever I came to LA, and I was thrilled when he made it to my birthday celebrations in October 2007—blessing me with an ILSA T-shirt and sharing his stories with such other great grindhouse names as Jack Hill (pictured, at left with myself and Don) and Lynn Lowry. Even this past November, Don was kind enough to join Jack and Matt Cimber at a signing of my book TABOO BREAKERS at Dark Delicacies in Burbank.

I remember how much it meant to me when he sent me an e-mail telling me that he loved the chapter on ILSA. Even though I was actually quite critical of some of the content (hey, it’s a pretty shocking flick!), I have always maintained that part of the picture's power is Don’s professional direction and attention to period detail. Then the bad news arrived when, on January 22 of this year, he sent me this message:

“As for me, I fractured 2 vertebrae in my lower back and it’s really causing me a lot of pain, but all I can do is lay low and let it heal. The bummer for me is that when they were doing the CAT scans to find out how seriously my back was busted, they also seemed to find that I’ve got a pretty mean-looking lump on my frikkin’ LIVER!! Still trying to find out if it’s cancer, but as of today it looks like it might be.

“I’m trying to get into the UCLA liver clinic (one of the best in the world), to see what they think. Damn Calum, the back I can deal with but the liver is a WHOLE other story.

So wish me luck and please keep in touch. I’ll try to keep you updated as the time goes by.

“How’s THAT for a bummer, huh?? I’ve just got to man up and do what needs to be done to fix it. My friends keep telling me I’m WAY to mean to let either of these problems sink me, DAMN I hope they’re right!!!”

Of course, rereading this now is almost unbearable. The world is a much worse place without Don Edmonds. His longtime friend, Sid Haig, told me, “Calum, as you can imagine, it is dfficult to put any of this into words. I had known Don since 1965. And in all that time, he never lost sight of the magic, but now the magic has lost sight of him.”

And in order to give this piece just a little more depth, I’d like to hand the final words over to Ilsa herself—actress Dyanne Thorne, who was kind enough to offer these moving sentiments:

“Calum, words are too cheap at a time like this. We very much appreciate your connecting with us when all our hearts are too heavy to feel up to communicating.

“Don was a brother to me, and will be sorely missed. His brilliant talents and extraordinary personality touched us all. Our show together last year in Ohio was an experience that surpassed all others for the ILSA adventure. Howard [Maurer, Thorne’s husband], Don and I had plans together for the future that died with him. He was a world-class director who left quite a legacy.

“All the way from Nevada, it was I who became concerned about his well-being back in March, and so Howard and I kept in very close phone and e-mail contact with Don. When, after a few days in May, Don didn’t answer his phone or his e-mails, I contacted Eric Caiden of Hollywood Book and Poster and asked him to check it out. He went to Don’s home and discovered Don had been hospitalized. Seems every few days he was transferred to a different facility, until yesterday’s passing. Only last week he asked me to make up business cards with all three of our names and addresses in preparation for our forthcoming appearance in July at the Hollywood Wilshire. I have them, but Don never got to see them.

“Howard and I are badly shaken by this; we really tried to be optimistic about his recovery. Don’s sister got to visit him, but we did not. The good part is, Don’s excruciating pain is over, and without a doubt, he lives in our hearts with amazing vitality.

“I’ve said too much; his fans will be equally crushed.

Thank you, friend—Don held you in high esteem and spoke of you very well.”

RIP, Don—I miss you already.

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