
Acting
Mel Welles
Born 1924-02-17 · New York City, New York, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mel Welles (February 17, 1924 - August 18, 2005) was an American film actor. His best-remembered role may be that of hapless flower shop owner Gravis Mushnik in the 1960 low-budget Roger Corman dark comedy, The Little Shop of Horrors (which featured Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient). Not much is known of Welles' early life, except that he was born Ira Meltcher in New York City. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School, in 1940. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University, a Master of Arts degree from West Virginia University, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. Welles held a number of jobs during his lifetime; at one time or another he worked as a clinical psychologist, radio DJ, television actor, writer and film director. He did some stage work before traveling to Hollywood, where in 1953 he appeared in his first film, Appointment in Honduras. His favorite role (The Little Shop of Horrors) was also his last in the U.S. for many years. In the early 1960s, he left the United States to act, produce and direct primarily in European film productions including the cult horror films Maneater of Hydra (1967) and Lady Frankenstein (1971). His fluency in five languages proved to be most helpful. He also served as a film consultant. Later he returned to the U.S., appearing in a number of films, doing voice work, and teaching voice acting. Probably his most widely seen work in the late 1970's was his English adaptation of the Japanese television show, "Spectreman" which was seen on UHF and cable across the United States. While he shares writing credit with two other people, it's clear that most of the English voice work, and the offbeat humor, is his. In 1998, Welles took to the stage in a community theater production of Little Shop of Horrors (musical) as Mushnik, the role he created in the original Roger Corman film. Welles had never performed in the musical and was happy to be asked to do the role, which he described as a "mitzvah" for Scotts Valley Performing Arts. Jonathan Haze, who played Seymour in the original film, attended the opening, and Welles also received a visit from Martin P. Robinson, the designer of the Audrey II plant puppets used in the off-Broadway production (Robinson is also famous for his puppetry on Sesame Street). Welles was working on a horror screenplay, tentatively titled House of a Hundred Horrors, at the time of his death. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mel Welles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
6.3Seymour works in a skid row florist shop and is in love with his beautiful co-worker, Audrey. He creates a new plant that not only talks but cannot survive without human flesh and blood.
The Little Shop of Horrors
1960
6.6The friendship of a group of young friends struggling with teen sex, drugs, and work is jeopardized by a romantic interest which may turn pals into bitter rivals.
The Last American Virgin
1982
6.6A police detective falls for the bank robber's girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing.
Pushover
1954
5.8High-tech robots equipped with state-of-the-art security devices have been recruited as the new mechanical "night watchmen" for the Park Plaza Mall. When a jolting bolt of lightning short-circuits the main computer control, the robots turn into "killbots" on the loose after unsuspecting shoppers!
Chopping Mall
1986
6.5Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly. His four grown sons include Dmitri, the eldest, an elegant officer, always broke and at odds with his father, betrothed to Katya, herself lovely and rich. The other brothers include a sterile aesthete, a factotum who is a bastard, and a monk. Family tensions erupt when Dmitri falls in love with one of his father's mistresses, the coquette Grushenka. Two brothers see Dmitri's jealousy of their father as an opportunity to inherit sooner. Acts of violence lead to the story's conclusion: trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption.
The Brothers Karamazov
1958
3.3Good-looking but virginal "rockstar" teen Tommy tries to score with some of the local high school girls. But a classmate's mom decides to make a man out of him.
Homework
1982
6.0A New York City cop and an expert criminologist trying to solve a series of grisly deaths in which the victims have seemingly been maimed by feral animals discover a sinister connection between the crimes and an old legend.
Wolfen
1981
6.1After a stagecoach holdup, Frank Slayton's notorious gang leave Ben Warren for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he recruits two others who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton.
Gun Fury
1953
5.0A young woman is driving alongside a lake. She has an accident and the car plunges into the water. Her body is then possessed by the spirit of an 18th-century witch who was killed by local villagers, and is bent on avenging herself on them.
The She Beast
1966
4.4A Greek artisan is commissioned to cast the cup of Christ in silver and sculpt around its rim the faces of the disciples and Jesus himself. He travels to Jerusalem and eventually to Rome to complete the task. Meanwhile, a nefarious interloper is trying to convince the crowds that he is the new Messiah by using nothing more than cheap parlor tricks.
The Silver Chalice
1954
6.8Though legendary lyricist Howard Ashman died far too young, his impact on Broadway, movies, and the culture at large were incalculable. Told entirely through rare archival footage and interviews with Ashman’s family, friends, associates, and longtime partner Bill Lauch, Howard is an intimate tribute to a once-in-a-generation talent and a rousing celebration of musical storytelling itself.
Howard
2018
6.0An American woman arrives in Hong Kong to unravel the mystery of her missing photographer husband. After getting nowhere with the authorities, she is led by some underground characters to an American soldier of fortune working in the area against the Communists. He promises to help find her husband.
Soldier of Fortune
1955
6.0Movie star Charlie Castle draws the ire of Hollywood producer Stanley Hoff when he refuses to sign a new seven-year contract. Castle is sick of the low quality of the studio's films and wants to start a new life. While his estranged wife supports him in the decision, Castle's talent agent urges him to reconsider. When Castle continues to be uncooperative, Hoff resorts to blackmail in order to get his way.
The Big Knife
1955
6.0Bud and Lou, two stranded American archaeologists, run afoul of an Egyptian cult with big plans to resurrect the mummified corpse of Klaris, guardian of his Princess Ara's treasure-filled tomb. When Lou accidentally eats the cursed medallion needed to find the ancient treasure, the two become targets of the cult's leader, his goons, a mysterious femme fatale, and the mummy of Klaris himself!
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
1955
5.2A group of scientists travel to a remote island to study the effects of nuclear weapons tests, only to get stranded when their airplane mysteriously explodes. The team soon discovers that the tests have given rise to crabs mutated into intelligent, impervious, telepathic giants intent on increasing their numbers by breeding, then travelling to populated areas to feed, and which do not intend to be stopped by their discoverers.
Attack of the Crab Monsters
1957
5.6Young and restless Nick Adams, the only son of a domineering mother and a weak but noble doctor father, leaves his rural Michigan home to embark on an eventful cross-country journey. He is touched and affected by his encounters with a punch-drunk ex-boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and an alcoholic advanceman for a burlesque show. After failing to get a job as reporter in New York, he enlists in the Italian army during World War I as an ambulance driver. His camaraderie with fellow soldiers and a romance with a nurse he meets after being wounded propel him to manhood.
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
1962
7.3On an airliner bound for Hong Kong, Tony, a career crook who deals in stolen diamonds, agonizes over whether he should stick with his girlfriend or pursue Pamela, an intriguing novelist with whom he's instantly infatuated. Viewing Tony's dastardly deeds as great material for her new book, Pamela gladly encourages him to continue his criminal behavior.
Flight to Hong Kong
1956
2.8Follows the rivalry between a small-town Southern sheriff and a small-town delinquent who steals cars and then destroys them with the sheriff’s daughter by his side.
Smokey Bites the Dust
1981
2.5Three kingdoms have been overtaken by three evil lords and only Tyor, a teenage boy with magical powers, can restore peace to the land with the help of a bumbling elder, wizard and a hero in each kingdom. Tyor fights alongside them and eventually becomes a powerful wizard in his own right.
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II
1989
6.2Five individuals from five nations, including the USA, USSR, and China, suddenly find themselves on an alien saucer, where an alien gives each a container holding three capsules. The alien explains that no power on earth can open a given container except a mental command from the person to whom it is given, then anyone may take a capsule and, by speaking a latitude and longitude at it, cause instant death to all within a given radius: thus each of the five has been provided with the power of life and death. Then, they are given 27 days to decide whether to use the capsules, and returned to the places from which each one came...
The 27th Day
1957
3.9A young man struggles to become a boxing champ, but success blinds him. It is only through the love of his girlfriend that he is brought back to reality.
Body and Soul
1981
6.8In bustling era of 19th-century Louisiana, sugar is as valuable as gold, and pirates like Lili Scarlet will do anything to get it. After robbing Jules Tulane’s estate of his crop, Scarlet takes over Tulane’s land debt and forces him to pay or go to prison. In exchange for postponing his debt, Scarlet allows Tulane’s son, André, to work as her servant. When André and Scarlet fall in love, it leads to jealous rage from Scarlet’s former paramour, expert swordsman Hugo — and when Hugo looks to raid the Tulane estate again, it is up to André and Scarlet to take him down and save the estate.
Duel on the Mississippi
1955
4.5Two psychics place a prostitute under hypnosis in order to learn about her past-life experiences. When they unwittingly send her back in time, she finds herself in the Middle Ages, suspected of being a witch and on the verge of being executed.
The Undead
1957
6.1Brady Sutton returns from three years in prison and tries to go straight. One a member of the Butch Cassidy gang, he is still suspected of being cahoots with them. When Cassidy and his men rob the bank, he is blamed. Escaping from the townspeople, he once again joins up with Cassidy to wait for a chance to help bring him in.
Wyoming Renegades
1954
Behind the camera
5.6When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue his experiments.
Lady Frankenstein
1971
5.6When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue his experiments.
Lady Frankenstein
1971
6.0After the war in Congo, two mercenaries take a mission to safeguard uranium transportation in a South American jungle, fighting bandits and local miners.
The Last Mercenary
1968
4.2The FBI sends agents to Jamaica to investigate arms smuggling to revolutionaries in Santo Domingo.
Our Man in Jamaica
1965
4.8A group of tourists arrive to see the botanical gardens on a small island off the Italian coast. The only inhabitants of the island are the famous botanist Baron von Weser and his two faithful servants; all of the other residents fled after a series of mysterious deaths. When the car driven by the tourists' guide hits one of the baron's servants, von Weser explains that the death was due to a rare and incurable disease, not the accident. That night, the guide and Cora Robinson, one of the guests, are found murdered with all the blood drained from their bodies.
Island of the Doomed
1967
4.8A group of tourists arrive to see the botanical gardens on a small island off the Italian coast. The only inhabitants of the island are the famous botanist Baron von Weser and his two faithful servants; all of the other residents fled after a series of mysterious deaths. When the car driven by the tourists' guide hits one of the baron's servants, von Weser explains that the death was due to a rare and incurable disease, not the accident. That night, the guide and Cora Robinson, one of the guests, are found murdered with all the blood drained from their bodies.
Island of the Doomed
1967
4.4Teenage friends Cindy and Leah have decided to leave their abusive homelives behind, stealing Cindy's father's car and setting out on the road to freedom. On the way, they meet up with a sleazy guy named Tank who invites them up to his place. As Tank showers, the two girls decide to take off, stealing Tank's wallet and his car. His car, however, happens to contain $2 million from a bank job he just pulled off, and Tank is now rather intent on tracking the pair down and reclaiming what's his.
Joyride to Nowhere
1977
4.4Teenage friends Cindy and Leah have decided to leave their abusive homelives behind, stealing Cindy's father's car and setting out on the road to freedom. On the way, they meet up with a sleazy guy named Tank who invites them up to his place. As Tank showers, the two girls decide to take off, stealing Tank's wallet and his car. His car, however, happens to contain $2 million from a bank job he just pulled off, and Tank is now rather intent on tracking the pair down and reclaiming what's his.
Joyride to Nowhere
1977
4.4Teenage friends Cindy and Leah have decided to leave their abusive homelives behind, stealing Cindy's father's car and setting out on the road to freedom. On the way, they meet up with a sleazy guy named Tank who invites them up to his place. As Tank showers, the two girls decide to take off, stealing Tank's wallet and his car. His car, however, happens to contain $2 million from a bank job he just pulled off, and Tank is now rather intent on tracking the pair down and reclaiming what's his.
Joyride to Nowhere
1977
7.3No synopsis available yet.
Hello Glen Ward, House Dick
1968
6.0An ex-mafioso moves to Mexico to become a writer, revealing mob secrets in his books which are met with understandable displeasure. He is soon pursued by hit-men as well as the FBI, who need his testimony in a court case.
Code of Silence
1960
6.0An ex-mafioso moves to Mexico to become a writer, revealing mob secrets in his books which are met with understandable displeasure. He is soon pursued by hit-men as well as the FBI, who need his testimony in a court case.
Code of Silence
1960