Roger Michael Watkins (September 17, 1948 – March 6, 2007) was an American filmmaker best known for the 1970s
grindhouse movie ''
Last House on Dead End Street''.
He also directed several
adult films, working with pornographic actors such as
Jamie Gillis,
Vanessa del Rio
Vanessa del Rio (born March 31, 1952) is an American retired pornographic actress.
Early years
Vanessa del Rio was born Ana María Sánchez and raised in Harlem, New York, the only child of immigrants from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Her mother would ...
, and
Samantha Fox
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.
The Internet Movie Database lists a number of Watkins' aliases (see the information box at right), most of which seem to have been used in ''
Last House on Dead End Street'' to conceal the fact that he worked in several capacities on that film (director, actor, writer, editor, and producer).
Biography
Watkins was born in
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
. He graduated from
Oneonta State College in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature. While studying for his degree he visited England and served as an apprentice for film director
Freddie Francis. On returning to the U.S. he continued his apprenticeship, working for
Otto Preminger and
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle Jr., August 7, 1911 – June 16, 1979) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor best known for the 1955 film ''Rebel Without a Cause.'' He is appreciated for many narrative features pr ...
.
He married Marcia Elliott in 1972, with whom he fathered two daughters.
Watkins began his career in adult film by writing the screenplay for ''Mystique (1979)'' which was directed by