Samuel Z. Arkoff

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Samuel Zachary Arkoff (12 June 1918 – September 11, 2001) was an American producer of B movies.

Personal life and death

He was married to Hilda Rusoff. Louis Arkoff, who was also his production partner; and Donna Roth, a film director married to Walt Disney Studios Joe Roth's former chairman. He also had five grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Arkoff died in 2001 at the age of 83, just weeks after his wife's death.

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Life and career

Arkoff was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Russian Jewish parents. He was the son of Helen (Lurie) and Louis Arkoff, who owned Louis Clothing Co. Arkoff began training to be a lawyer. He began his career in Hollywood as a producer of The Hank McCune Show, a seminal sitcom that was released in 1951.

James H. Nicholson founded the American Releasing Corporation, which later became American International Pictures, and named Arkoff as the vice president. AIP films were largely low-budget, with production taking place in a few days, but virtually all of them became profitable. He produced eighteen films with business partner James H. Nicholson and producer-director Roger Corman.

Arkoff is also known for inventing a few niches, such as the Beach Party and outlaw biker films, and his company played a major role in the breakout of the horror film genre with hits such as Blacula, I Was a Teenager Werewolf, and The Thing with Two Heads. Many well-known actors in principal or cameo roles, including Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, and Vincent Price, as well as others who later became household names such as Don Johnson, Nick Nolte, Diane Laddd, and most notably Jack Nicholson, were featured in American International Pictures films. A number of actors who were shunned or ignored by the majority of Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s, including Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper, have found work in one or two of Arkoff's films. The 1979 version of Jay Anson's book The Amityville Horror was Arkoff's most financially successful film.

Arkoff was dissatisfied with the company's direction and resigned in December 1979 to start Arkoff International Pictures, a $1.4 million payout.

Flying Through Hollywood by the Seat of my Pants (1992) Arkoff's autobiography was titled Flying Through Hollywood by the Man Who Brought You I was a teenager Werewolf and Muscle Beach Party.

In 2000, Arkoff was included in the documentary SCHLOCK! With former collaborators including Roger Corman, Dick Miller, and Peter Bogdanovich. The Mysterious History of American Cinema, a film about the rise and fall of American exploitation cinema.

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