William Castle Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

William Castle (1914 - 1977) was an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks that were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low-budget B-movies. Read the full biography

William Castle (1914 - 1977) was an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks that were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low-budget B-movies. Castle began directing films in the early 1940s, and later television, before moving on to "gimmick films". He spent most of his life surrounded by the theater. After seeing Bela Lugosi play Dracula on stage at 13, he knew that fear and shock would be his calling. After receiving a recommendation from Lugosi himself to work behind the scenes of the touring production of Dracula, Castle dropped out of school at 15 to work on the stage. He's done everything from acting to working as a stagehand, thus studying how to get the biggest reactions from the crowd. From the stage he transitioned to the Hollywood studio system at the age of 23, where he would find his true calling in directing B-movies. Most of his films included outrageous gimmicks such as a death-by-scare insurance policy for "Macabre" (1957), skeletons whistling over the audience in a process called "Emergo" during critical scenes in "House on Haunted Hill" and his most daring stunt film, "Percepto," which literally shocked audiences by plugging selected seats in the theater with electricity and by administering mild shocks during moments in "The Tingler" (1959). Castle is also known as the producer of the psychological thriller "Rosemary's Baby" (1968).