Wes Bishop

Writer/actor/producer 'Wes Bishop' (qv) frequently collaborated with exploitation filmmaker 'Lee Frost' (qv) on a bunch of enjoyably down-'n'-dirty drive-in features made throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Bishop was born as Charles Pelletieri on September 12, 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee. He served a hitch in the US army as a paratrooper and intelligence officer in the Korean War. He and Frost first crossed paths in the early 1960s on the tongue-in-cheek softcore horror comedy _House on Bare Mountain (1962)_ (qv). Their subsequent cinematic ventures include the trailblazing Nazisploitation outing _Love Camp 7 (1969)_ (qv), the gritty _Chain Gang Women (1971)_ (qv), the passable biker opus _Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)_ (qv), the hilariously campy _The Thing with Two Heads (1972)_ (qv), the immensely fun _Policewomen (1974)_ (qv), the gnarly blaxploitation winner _The Black Gestapo (1975)_ (qv) and the rowdy redneck romp _Dixie Dynamite (1976)_ (qv). In addition, Frost often had sizable supporting roles in their movies; he's especially memorable as trouble-making convict Coleman in "Chain Gang Women" and sleazy mobster Ernest in "The Black Gestapo." In addition, Frost and Bishop wrote the witty and inspired script for 'Jack Starrett' (qv)'s terrific Satan-worship/car-chase horror/action treat _Race with the Devil (1975)_ (qv); Bishop also produced the picture and appears in a minor part as a small-town deputy.Bishop did guest spots on such TV series as _Perry Mason (1957)_ (qv), _Combat! (1962)_ (qv), _Bonanza (1959)_ (qv) and _The High Chaparral (1967)_ (qv). 'Wes Bishop' (qv) died at age 60 from a liver ailment on June 25, 1993.::woodyanders (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)