Biography
Orville H. Hampton (May 21, 1917 – August 8, 1997) was an American screenwriter who worked mostly in low-budget films, particularly for producers Robert E. Kent and Edward Small. A screenplay that he and Raphael Hayes wrote for One Potato, Two Potato (1964) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Hampton was born in Rockford, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois, where he studied chemistry and journalism. After college, he worked as a radio announcer before serving in the Army during World War II. Following the war, Hampton settled in Hollywood, where from 1950 onward he became a prolific screenwriter, scripting or co-writing more than 100 films and television episodes, mainly B-movies and genre films. In 1964, Hampton, along with co-writer Raphael Hayes, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for One Potato, Two Potato.During his long career, Hampton worked on television programs including The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Champion, Perry Mason (and The New Perry Mason), Hawaii Five-O, Lassie, The Six Million Dollar Man and Mission: Impossible. Though he wrote films and television shows in many genres—including film noir (Motor Patrol), science fiction (The Atomic Submarine), crime fiction (Detroit 9000), horror (The Alligator People), blaxploitation (Friday Foster), mystery (Lady in the Fog aka Scotland Yard Inspector), and westerns (Gunfighters of Abilene)--, Hampton is probably best remembered for his scripts which addressed race relations, particularly One Potato, Two Potato (which depicts an interracial marriage in the 1960s) and his two films with director Arthur Marks, Detroit 9000 and Friday Foster (which starred Pam Grier, Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt, Scatman Crothers and Carl Weathers).
Fellow screenwriter C. Jack Lewis recalled in his 2002 book White Horse, Black Hat, that Hampton used the pen name "Owen Harris" in his later career—when he was a regular writer for Columbia Pictures—in an effort to distance himself from his days a "Poverty Row screenwriter." He remembered Hampton as a writer who "wasn't too proud to work at something else, when necessary", pointing to Hampton's credits as dialogue supervisor, additional dialogue writer, and dialogue director in the 1950s.Hampton died on August 8, 1997, in Malibu, California.
Filmography
all 75
Writer 74
Movies 65
TV Shows 10
Friday Foster (1975)
Joe Forrester (1975)
The Six Million Dollar Man (1974)
Detroit 9000 (1973)
Escape to Mindanao (1968)
Hawaii Five-O (1968)
The Young Runaways (1968)
A Time to Sing (1968)
Riot on Sunset Strip (1967)
Flipper (1964)
One Potato, Two Potato (1964)
The Underwater City (1962)
Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Incident in an Alley (1962)
Beauty and the Beast (1962)
Deadly Duo (1962)
Secret of Deep Harbor (1961)
The Flight That Disappeared (1961)
You Have to Run Fast (1961)
The Gambler Wore a Gun (1961)
The Snake Woman (1961)
Operation Bottleneck (1961)
Frontier Uprising (1961)
Police Dog Story (1961)
Young Jesse James (1960)
Cage of Evil (1960)
Three Came to Kill (1960)
Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
A Dog's Best Friend (1959)
The Atomic Submarine (1959)
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
Inside the Mafia (1959)
The Alligator People (1959)
Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959)
Submarine Seahawk (1958)
Hong Kong Confidential (1958)
Badman's Country (1958)
The Toughest Gun in Tombstone (1958)
Jet Attack (1958)
Calypso Heat Wave (1957)
Perry Mason (1957)
Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957)
The Black Whip (1956)
Frontier Gambler (1956)
Untamed Mistress (1956)
The Three Outlaws (1956)
The Black Panther (1956)
Last of the Desperados (1955)
The Adventures of Champion (1955)
Judge Roy Bean (1955)
New Orleans Uncensored (1955)
The Big Chase (1954)
Fangs of the Wild (1954)
Mesa of Lost Women (1953)
Your Favorite Story (1953)
Lady in the Fog (1952)
Cowboy G-Men (1952)
The Jungle (1952)
Red Snow (1952)
Outlaw Women (1952)
Sky High (1951)
Leave It to the Marines (1951)
Lost Continent (1951)
Mask of the Dragon (1951)
Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951)
Three Desperate Men (1951)
The Bandit Queen (1950)
Experiment Alcatraz (1950)
Train To Tombstone (1950)
I Shot Billy the Kid (1950)
Hi-Jacked (1950)
Rocketship X-M (1950)
Motor Patrol (1950)
The Dangerous Stranger (1950)
Ratings
Information
Known ForWriting
GenderMale
Birthday1917-05-21
Deathday1997-08-08 (80 years old)
Birth PlaceRockford, United States of America
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsOrville Hampton, Owen Harris
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