Curtis Harrington, 80; was director of horror movies

LOS ANGELES -- Curtis Harrington, a onetime experimental filmmaker who earned a reputation in the 1960s and '70s as a master of the macabre with films such as "What's the Matter with Helen?" and "The Killing Kind," has died. He was 80.

Mr. Harrington, who suffered a stroke in 2005 and never fully recovered, died Sunday evening at his home in the Hollywood Hills, said his friend, screenwriter Robert Mundy.

Originally known for his short, experimental films in the 1940s and early '50s, Mr. Harrington was working as an associate producer under producer Jerry Wald at 20th Century Fox when he took time off in 1960 to direct his first feature film, "Night Tide."

In what a New York Times reviewer called "an eerily poetic mood piece," the low-budget independent film starred Dennis Hopper as a young sailor who falls in love with a girl who works in a water tank as a sideshow mermaid. But, as a tagline for the film asks: "Was she Human? . . . Sensual ecstasy becomes supernatural terror!"

The film, which Mr. Harrington also wrote, provided Hopper with his first leading role.

"I asked Dennis to be in it because he was very much a part of the avant-garde scene in Southern California, and he told me he'd really admired my short films," Mr. Harrington told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 1998.

In March, Mr. Harrington and Hopper appeared together at an American Cinematheque screening of "Night Tide" in Hollywood.

"He's always been a dear friend through the years," Hopper said of Mr. Harrington this week. As a director, "he allowed me all the freedom that I wanted; he was very gracious. I enjoyed Curtis always. I'll miss him."

Among Mr. Harrington's films are "What's the Matter with Helen?" (1971), a horror film co starring Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters; "Games" (1967), a psychological thriller with Simone Signoret, James Caan, and Katharine Ross; "The Killing Kind" (1973), an exploration into the mind of a psychopath starring Ann Sothern and John Savage; and "Ruby" (1977), a horror film with Piper Laurie and Stuart Whitman.

Mr. Harrington, who directed episodes of "Charlie's Angels," "Dynasty," and other TV shows in the '70s and '80s, also directed TV movies such as "Killer Bees," "The Cat Creature," and "The Dead Don't Die."

Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Harrington began making experimental films as a teenager. He later attended Occidental College and the University of California at Los Angeles and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California in 1947.

In 2002, the long-retired Mr. Harrington returned to his experimental filmmaking roots with "Usher," a 38-minute film based on the Edgar Allen Poe story. The film, in which Mr. Harrington played the leading roles of the brother and sister, had screenings at several foreign film festivals.

"It was," said Mundy, "a heroic achievement to produce, direct, write, and star in a deeply personal film at the age of 75."

Mr. Harrington leaves no survivors.