Mark Le Buse (born Allan Busey; September 7, 1917 - March 5, 1999) was a Hollywood prop maker, sculptor, and film actor. After serving in the Navy as an electrician before World War II, and working as a shipfitter during it, Allan Busey found work in Hollywood, doing woodwork and prop construction for the major studios. He worked on several movies for

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

, Including

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born ...

, Elephant Walk,

The Bridges at Toko-Ri ''The Bridges at Toko-Ri'' is a 1954 American war film about the Korean War and stars William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney, and Robert Strauss (actor), Robert Strauss. The film, which was directed by Mark Robson (film dire ...

, and

3 Ring Circus ''3 Ring Circus'' is a 1954 American comedy film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The picture was shot from February 17 to March 31, 1954 and was released on Christmas by Paramount Pictures. The supporting ...

. In 1954, he moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, to escape the Los Angeles smog. In addition to various odd jobs, such as driving a taxi, he began to carve sculptures in driftwood and black coral for the tourist market. After 1960, he sold out of a shop at the Kona Inn on the big island. He was cast in small roles in 1964's Ride the Wild Surf, starring Fabian and Shelly Fabares, and multiple episodes of

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

in the late 1960s. In the mid-1960s, he changed his name to Mark Le Buse on the advice of a Shinto priest, who gave him and his second wife Jill new names determined by numerology. In 1971, Le Buse and his wife left Hawaii, intending to emigrate to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Instead, they spent three years in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, where Le Buse acted in several low-budget thrillers, before ending up in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. His artistic work in Australia included a series of approximately 48 limestone outdoor sculptures, most notably large-scale works for the

Atlantis Marine Park Atlantis Marine Park is an abandoned theme park built in 1981 in Two Rocks, at the time a small fishing community north of central Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The park was a major feature of Alan Bond's Yanchep Sun City plan. It ...

near

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, such as a ten-meter high

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

with

trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

(which was Heritage listed by the Western Australia Heritage Council in 2006) and “the disembodied head of

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the ...

.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Buse, Mark 20th-century American sculptors Hawaii artists American emigrants to Australia 1917 births 1999 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II