Mark Damon Passes On

Mark Damon, an actor who appeared in such films as House of Usher (1960) and Black Sabbath (1963) and later became a producer, died on May 12 2024 at the age of 91.

Mark Damon was born Alan Harris on April 22 1933 in Chicago. When he was very young his family moved to California. He attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and then UCLA. He trained in acting with Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner.

He made his television debut in 1952 in an episode of Gang Busters. In the Fifties he guest starred on the shows Meet Corliss Archer, Your Play Time, I Led Three Lives, Cavalcade of America, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Matinee Theatre, The 20th Century Fox Hour, Men of Annapolis, Panic!, The Californians, The Silent Service, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Ann Sothern Show, The Lineup, Zorro, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, and National Velvet. He made his movie debut in 1956 in Inside Detroit. He appeared in the movies Screaming Eagles (1956), Between Heaven and Hell (1956), Young and Dangerous (1957), Life Begins at 17 (1958),The Party Crashers (1958), The Rebel Breed (1960), and House of Usher.

In the Sixties he guest starred on the shows Walt Disney Presents, Hawaiian Eye, and Lock Up. He appeared in the movies Peccati d'estate (1962), Beauty and the Beast (1962), The Longest Day (1962), The Young Racers (1963), Il giorno più corto (1963), Black Sabbath (1963), Sfida al re di Castiglia (1963), Wounds of Hunger (1963), I cento cavalieri (1964), Il figlio di Cleopatra (1964), Agente segreto 777 - Operazione Mistero (1965), Dio, come ti amo! (1966), Johnny Oro (1966), Johnny Yuma (1966), Requiescant (1967), La morte non conta i dollari (1967), Colpo doppio del camaleonte d'oro (1967), Un treno per Durango (1968), Nude... si muore  (1968), Kiedy milosc byla zbrodnia (1968), Tutto per tutto (1968), Lo sbarco di Anzio (1968), ¿Quién grita venganza? (1968), and Temptation (1969).

In the Seventies Mark Damon appeared in the movies L'arciere di fuoco (1971), La spada normanna (1971), Questa libertà di avere... le ali bagnate (1971), Posate le pistole, reverendo (1971), I leoni di Pietroburgo (1972), Monta in sella!! Figlio di... (1972), Byleth (Il demone dell'incesto) (1972), Lo chiamavano Verità (1972), Confessioni segrete di un convento di clausura (1972), Little Mother (1973), Il plenilunio delle vergini (1973), La tumba de la isla maldita (1973), Es knallt - und die Engel singen (1974), and There is No 13 (1974). He guest starred on the TV show The Protectors..

In 1983 he appeared in the movie Stuck on You!. He appeared in the movies Deceiver (1997). In 1991 he guest starred on the TV show Gabriel's Fire.

Mark Damon's first production credit was executive producer on Wounds of Hunger in 1963. In the Seventies he produced The Arena (1974) and The Choirboys (1977). In the Eighties he was a producer on Das Boot (1981), The Neverending Story (1984), The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986), 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), Short Circuit (1986), Flight of the Navigator (1986), The Lost Boys (1987), Bat*21 (1988), Mac and Me (1988), High Spirits (1988), Wild Orchid (1989), Dark Angel (1990), and Vietnam, Texas (1990).

In the Nineties he produced the movies Beastmaster 2: Through the Time Portal (1991), Inner Sanctum (1991), Diary of a Hitman (1991), Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue (1991), Stalingrad (1993), The Jungle Book (1994), The Winner (1996), Loved (1997), The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997), The Blackout (1997), Deceiver (1997), Orgazmo (1997), A Dog of Flanders (1998), Grizzly Falls (1999), Eye of the Beholder (1999), and Love & Sex (2000). He was an executive producer on the TV movie Red Shoe Diaries.

In the Naughts he produced The Body (2001), The Musketeer (2001), Feardot.com (2002), Extreme Ops (2002), The United States of Leland (2003), 11:14 (2003), Monster (2003), The I Inside (2004), Beyond the Sea (2004), The Upside of Anger (2005), O Jersualem (2006), Captivity (2007), It's Alive (2009), Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009), and Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009).

In the Teens and Twenties he produced The Ledge (2011), Flypaper (2011), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012), 2 Guns (2013), Lone Survivor (2013), And So It Goes (2014), Blind (2016), The Hurricane Heist (2018), The Last Full Measure (2019), Willy's Wonderland (2021), Best Sellers (2021), 9 Bullets (2022), Fast Charlie (2023), and Rumble Through the Dark (2023).

Mark Damon was a remarkable actor. He did a memorable turn in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents  episode "Place of Shadows," on which he played a young man who insinuates his way into an monastery to kill a man who cheated him and ruined his life, a man being cared by the monastery. He was also memorable as a juvenile delinquent in the movie Young and Dangerous (1957). His most memorable role may well have been that of Philip Winthrop in House of Usher. In House of Usher Philip Winthrop is engaged to Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). Unfortunately, her brother Roderick Usher (Vincent Price) is none too happy with the two getting married. Mark Damon had considerable talent.