Andy Milligan

About Andy Milligan

Who is it?: Director, Cinematographer, Writer
Birth Day: February 12, 1929
Birth Place:  St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
Died On: June 3, 1991(1991-06-03) (aged 62)\nLos Angeles, California
Birth Sign: Pisces
Other names: Richard Fox Joi Gogan Gerald Jackson A. Milligan Andrew Milligan
Occupation: Playwright, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor, film editor, producer, and director
Years active: 1951–1990
Spouse(s): Candy Hammond (1968 – 1969) (divorced)

Andy Milligan Net Worth

Andy Milligan was born on February 12, 1929 in  St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, is Director, Cinematographer, Writer. Andy Milligan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 12, 1929. He was a self-taught film maker, playwright, script writer and costume designer. He grew up mostly in Minnesota, but he and his family moved around the country a lot. His father, Andrew Jackson Milligan Sr. (1895-1985) was a captain in the U.S. Army who served in the military for over 50 years (retiring in the mid 1960s holding the rank of colonel). His mother, Marie Gladys Hull (1903-1953), was an overweight, neurotic-bipolar alcoholic who physically and verbally abused her husband and children. She served as the basis for scores of her son's characters when he began making films. Milligan had an older half-brother named Harley Hull and a younger sister named Louise Milligan Howe. After finishing grade school, Milligan joined the U.S. Navy where he served four years. After his honorable discharge, he settled in New York City in 1951 where he dabbled in acting on stage and opened a dress shop.During the 1950s Milligan became involved in the nascent off-off-Broadway theater movement where he mounted productions of plays by Lord Dunsany and Jean Genet at the Caffe Cino, a small Greenwich Village coffeehouse that served as a hothouse for rising theater talent like Lanford Wilson, Tom Eyen and John Guare. Milligan also became involved with directing low-key theater productions at Cafe La Ma Ma Experimental Theater Club. During this period he operated and designed for a clothing boutique named Ad Lib and used his crude dressmaking skills to costume many theatrical productions.In the early 1960s Milligan turned to film making as a change of pace. He met some of the actors for his early films at Caffe Cino. His first released film was a 30-minute black-and-white 16 mm short drama entitled Vapors (1965). Set in the notorious gay bathhouse St. Mark's Baths, it was written by Hope Stansbury, the raven-haired beauty who would star in his later films. The film, set on one Friday evening in the St. Mark's Baths, portrays an emotionally awkward and unconsummated meeting between two strangers. Milligan was later employed by producers of exploitation films, particularly William Mishkin, to direct softcore sexploitation and horror features, many featuring actors known from the off-off Broadway theater community.Milligan then hooked up with famed sexploitation producer William Mishkin and made 11 features, all shot with a single hand-held 16mm Auricon camera on short ends (snippets of film left over from other productions). Some of those include Depraved! (1967), Seeds (1968) ("Sown in Incest! Harvested in Hate!") and Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973). Many of these early works play like bizarre morality tales where sleazy characters get violently paid back for their excesses.In 1966, Milligan set up shop in a Victorian mansion located on northern Staten Island, within walking distance of the ferry and his own house. The house soon became "Hollywood central," where he filmed most of his movies on budgets ranging from $5,000 to $20,000. Milligan was a one-man army--he wrote, directed, built sets and sewed costumes for his splatter epics like The Ghastly Ones (1968). His usual "stock company" (Stansbury, Neil Flanagan, Hal Borske) was often supplemented by Staten Island locals who were dragged into performing.Milligan even married one of his actresses, Candy Hammond, who starred in a number of his films, most notably as Pussy Johnson in Gutter Trash (1969). No one took the wedding seriously, because Milligan was unabashedly homosexual and an avowed misogynist. The service took place at the Staten Island house, which was still decorated for the movie shoot Seeds. That night, Milligan cruised gay bars to celebrate.In 1968, Milligan began to make horror movies featuring gore effects with The Ghastly Ones (1968), a 19th century period piece and his first color film which was produced by JER and titled by Sam Sherman. In 1969, he made his next horror movie, Torture Dungeon (1970), a medieval period piece after which he moved to London to make movies there after having made a deal with producer Leslie Elliot. After directing Nightbirds (1970) in London, his partnership with Elliot collapsed as he was working on The Body Beneath (1970). Milligan then teamed up again with William Mishkin again where Mishkin produced and Milligan directed three more British pictures which were Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970), The Man with Two Heads (1972), and The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972) (all shot in 1969) before Milligan's return to Staten Island in 1970.On his return to New York, Milligan directed another medieval period piece titled Guru, the Mad Monk (1970), shot for the first time with a 35mm Arriflex camera and filmed entirely inside a Chelsea, Manhattan church. This movie was released on a double feature with The Body Beneath. Through the next years, Mishkin released Milligan's British-made pictures, some with additional scenes shot in New York. The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! was one of Mishkin's films in which he had Milligan insert new killer rat scenes shot in New York, mostly at his new Staten Island house on Corson Street where Milligan lived during that time and filmed another horror period piece there in 1973 which was titled Blood (1973).After directing the 1972 sexploitation drama Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973), Milligan's output was restricted mostly to gory horror movies as he moved to the southern tip of Staten Island in the Tottenville neighborhood where he lived in and owned and operated a dilapidated hotel located at the end of Main Street right next to the southern end of Staten Island Railway.In October 1977, Milligan moved into 335 West 39th Street in Manhattan (a four-story building purchased for $50,000 by Milligan and stockholders), where he founded and ran the Troupe Theater, a seedy but fun off-off Broadway venue above which he lived in a third-floor loft until he left New York City for good in March 1985. He moved to Los Angeles, California, where he shot three more horror movies in 1987 and 1988 as well as operated another theater company, called the Troupe West, which ran until 1990.Andy Milligan was heavily into S&M and had very few serious relationships (all with men). The few friends he did have were just as emotionally troubled and dangerously disturbed as he was. A Vietnam veteran and ex-convict named Dennis Malvasi, who once drifted into and worked at Andy's Troupe Theater in the late 1970s and early 1980s, later made news headlines in March 2001 when he and his wife were arrested for aiding the flight of fugitive James Kopp, the suspected murderer of a New York abortion doctor. One boyfriend, "human toothpick" B. Wayne Keeton (so-named for his gaunt physical build), was a good natured Louisiana hustler who appeared in a small role in Monstrosity (1987), one of Milligan's last films. Keeton's death from AIDS in June 1989 hit Milligan hard, and he soon began having his own health problems. He learned shortly afterwards that he, too, had contracted AIDS, apparently from Keeton. With no insurance, little money, and the era of exploitation films over, Andy Milligan went into a reclusive decline until his death on June 3, 1991 at age 62.
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Biography/Timeline

1895

Milligan was an "army brat"; his father, Andrew Milligan Sr. (1895–1985), was a Captain in the US Army who served in the military for over 50 years (retiring in the mid 1960s holding the rank of Colonel). The family frequently moved around the country as a result of this. Milligan's mother, Marie Gladys Hull (1903–1953), was an overweight alcoholic with severe physical and mental health problems who served as an inspiration for some of Milligan's film characters. Milligan's parents met and married in 1926. He was close to his father, who affectionately called him "Junior", but had a very troubled relationship with his mother, who was both physically and mentally abusive towards all her children as well as her husband.

1924

Milligan had an older half-brother named Harley LeRoy Hull (1924–1996) and a younger sister named Louise Milligan Howe (1931–).

1926

Another one of Milligan's few close friends was character actor John Miranda (1926-2015), who starred as Sweeny Todd in Milligan's 1970 film Bloodthirsty Butchers. Miranda later financially supported Milligan after his move to Los Angeles and assisted with any medical expenses during Milligan's final years.

1929

Andrew Jackson Milligan Jr. was born on February 12, 1929, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was a self-taught filmmaker and was responsible for much of the creative activity on his films (including cinematography and costume design).

1947

After finishing high school in 1947, Milligan enlisted in the US Navy, serving for four years. After his honorable discharge in 1951 he settled in New York City, where he acted on stage, and opened a dress shop.

1950

Milligan enjoyed S&M and had very few long-term relationships (all of which were with men). One of his close friends was a Vietnam veteran and ex-convict named Dennis Malvasi (1950- ), who acted in Milligan's Troupe Theater in the late 1970s-early 1980s and also worked for Milligan as a crewperson, transportation driver, and even acted in one of Milligan's horror films, Carnage in 1983. Malvasi was a former U.S. Marine and demolitions expert who was suspected for numerous abortion clinic bombings in New York state during the 1980s. After the Troupe Theater closed in 1985, Malvasi was the person who drove Milligan on a cross-country, four-day road trip during Milligan's move to Los Angeles. Later in 1987, Malvasi was arrested, convicted, and served five years in a federal prison for the attempted bombing of another abortion clinic in New York City.

1960

In the early 1960s, Milligan began making films. He met some of the actors for his early films at Caffe Cino. His first released film was a 30-minute black-and-white 16 mm short drama entitled Vapors (1965). The film, set on one Friday evening in the St. Mark's Baths, a gay bathhouse for men, portrays an emotionally awkward and unconsummated meeting between two strangers. Milligan was later employed by producers of exploitation films, particularly william Mishkin, to direct softcore sexploitation and horror features, many featuring actors known from the off-off Broadway theater community.

1966

In 1966, Milligan set up his residence in a Victorian-era mansion located in St. George, Staten Island, within a mile walking distance of the Staten Island Ferry. The house soon became what he dubbed "Hollywood Central," where he filmed several of his movies. Milligan wrote, directed, built sets and sewed costumes for nearly all of his films. His usual "stock company" was often supplemented by Staten Island locals.

1967

Most of his early exploitation films fell into the morality play genre. Milligan's plays and films explored topics of transgression and punishment, dysfunctional family relationships, repressed sexuality, homosexuality and physical deformity, and include such titles as Depraved! (1967), The Naked Witch (1967), The Promiscuous Sex (1967), The Degenerates (1967), The Filthy Five (1969), Gutter Trash (1969), The Ghastly Ones (1968), Seeds of Sin (1968), Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1973), The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! (1973), and Guru, the Mad Monk (1970). Most of Milligan's early works are currently considered lost films.

1968

In 1968 he married Candy Hammond, a North Carolina stage Actress and former "erotic dancer" who starred in a few of his films. The wedding Service took place on February 24, 1968, at his Staten Island house located on 7 Phelps Place, which was still decorated for the movie shoot Seeds and attended by most of the crew people working on the film as well as his father and Japanese stepmother (whom his father married in 1960 while Milligan Sr. was stationed in Japan). The wedding was not viewed seriously by any of the attendees because Milligan was an open homosexual. Candy divorced him the following year, apparently due to neglect as he was more focused on his film making career, and she shortly thereafter returned to her North Carolina hometown.

1970

On his return to New York, Milligan wrote and directed another medieval period piece titled Guru the Mad Monk, which was shot for the first time with a 35mm Arriflex camera and filmed entirely inside a Chelsea, Manhattan church. This movie was released in December 1970 on a double feature with The Body Beneath. Through the next years, Mishkin released Milligan's British-made pictures, some with additional scenes shot in New York. The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! was one of Mishkin's films in which he had Milligan insert new killer rat scenes shot in New York, mostly at his new Staten Island house on Corson Street where Milligan lived during that time and filmed another horror period piece there in 1973 which was titled Blood.

1977

After directing the 1972 sexploitation drama Fleshpot on 42nd Street, Milligan's output was restricted mostly to gory horror movies as he moved to the southern tip of Staten Island in the Tottenville neighborhood where he lived in and owned and operated a dilapidated hotel located at the corner end of Main Street and Ellis Street right next to the southern end of Staten Island Railway (which is currently an Italian themed restaurant named Vincent Angelina's Ristorante). On October 27, 1977, Milligan moved into 335 West 39th Street in Manhattan (a four-story building purchased for $50,000 by Milligan and stockholders), where he founded and ran the Troupe Theatre, an off-off Broadway venue above which he lived in a third-floor loft until he left New York City for good in March 1985. He moved to Los Angeles, California, where he briefly owned a dress shop on Highland Boulevard from late 1985 to early 1986. Milligan then directed three more independently produced horror movies in 1987 and 1988, which included Monstrosity, The Weirdo, and Surgikill as well as operated another theater and production company, which was called Troupe West, which ran until early 1990.

1989

In poor health from 1989, Milligan was diagnosed with AIDS some months after his lover Keeton died. He initially kept his condition a secret as he tried to continue working on writing stage play scripts and screenplays. Later, unable to find any more financial backers, he eventually closed down his theater and production company, Troupe West, in early 1990 and then completely withdrew from the public light altogether. In June 1990, Milligan confided in only two people the true nature of his health; friend and actor John Miranda and writer-biographer Jimmy McDonough, who then became his part-time caregivers for the next 12 months.

1991

Andy Milligan died in the early morning hours of June 3, 1991 from complications to AIDS at the Queen of Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at age 62. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Los Angeles due to his poor financial situation on death.

2014

In his nonfiction book about the horror genre, Danse Macabre, Stephen King gives a short assessment of one of Milligan's films: "The Ghastly Ones is the work of morons with cameras." Milligan developed a reputation as a maker of awful horror movies, featuring Herschell Gordon Lewis-type gore effects, both of which combined to give him a reputation as one of the worst Directors of all time. The re-discovery of Fleshpot on 42nd Street—generally regarded to be his best work—in the 1990s by the Seattle-based video company Something Weird Video and the release of his biography in 2001 has made more widely known his theatrical background and the context to his work. Despite his modern-day recognition, most of Milligan's exploitation movies during the 1960s remain unseen, as the prints were lost over time and remain so to this day.

2016

Milligan's first movies were shot with a single hand-held 16-millimeter Auricon sound-on-film news camera. This technique was inspired by Andy Warhol and allowed Milligan to move the camera around at will, at times punctuating violent scenes with his "swirl camera" technique through which he would spin the camera and point it to the ground. Often working with budgets under $10,000, his movies feature very tight framing that helped cover up his very low budgets, particularly in the case of the period pieces that were most of his horror movies. His ability to make movies with such low budgets is why Mishkin often hired him and Mishkin's influence on the 42nd Street grindhouse circuit meant that Milligan's pictures played there often. Milligan filmed all of his movies on short ends; using old and unused leftover film reels of 16 mm and later 35mm film that he acquired through various means from other film sets as a means to keep production costs down.