Richard Elfman - Biography

Richard "Rick" Elfman, (born March 6, 1949 in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, California), is an American film actor, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and magazine publisher.

Family

Richard is the son of novelist Blossom Elfman (aka "Clare Elfman"), and the older brother of musician and film composer Danny Elfman, with whom he founded Oingo Boingo, an eclectic band popular in the 1980s & 1990's. Richard is brother-in-law of Danny's wife, Bridget Fonda, father of Bodhi Elfman, father-in-law of Bodhi's wife, Jenna Elfman, and father and business partner in Buzzine Networks with son Louis Elfman. Richard currently resides in the Hollywood Hills.

Career

Theatre

Elfman was a member of Jérôme Savary's musical theatre company, Le Grand Magic Circus, in Paris.

Music

Elfman formed the musical theatre troupe known as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in 1975. The group was inspired by Richard's time in Paris with Le Grand Magic Circus. Richard's wife, Marie-Pascale, high school friend Gene Cunningham and brother Danny helped Richard found the group. Original performances of the group consisted of upward of 15 musicians, often dressed in garish clown makeup, performing classics from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, as well as avant-garde originals by Danny Elfman. The band appeared on The Gong Show as well as in the 1977 movie I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. Richard left the group in 1979 to pursue filmmaking, leaving Danny as music director. Danny eventually changed the theatrical nature of the band into a steady 8 piece touring act that became Oingo Boingo.

Film

Elfman's first directing project was the cult film Forbidden Zone released in 1980. It was a black and white film version of the theatrical show, starring band members and friends, including Danny singing a modified version of Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher as Satan with lyrics modified for the plot. Richard also appears in the film singing "The Yiddishe Charleston" from the 1920s. Some years on, film critics cited the film as a potential source of inspiration for the surrealist science-fiction film Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space.

Forbidden Zone had its New York color premiere March 20, 2010 at the Museum of Modern Art, in conjunction with the Tim Burton exhibition.

Forbidden Zone: Live in the 6th Dimension will open as a stage musical in Los Angeles in May 2010.

Elfman also made Shrunken Heads (1994; some footage and scenery from this film was later reused for the best effects sequences in the film Zarkorr! The Invader) and Modern Vampires (1998). Elfman said in a 2009 interview that he has also done pseudonymous film work under names such as "Aristide Sumatra" and "Mahatma Kane Sumatra".

Filmography

• The Easy Life (1973) (actor)
• I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) (actor)
• Forbidden Zone (1980) (actor, director, producer)
• Private Life (1989) (music video) (director)
• Shrunken Heads (1994) (director, actor)
• Streets of Rage (1994) (director)

  (under pseudonym Lt. Col. Aristide Pierre Lafite Sumatra, of the Ton Ton Macoute, ret.)

• Bone Chillers (1995) (ABC TV series) (director)
• George of the Jungle (1997) (actor)
• Modern Vampires (1998) (TV) (actor, director, producer)
• Scarecrow (2002) (V) (actor)
• Date or Disaster (2004) (actor, director, producer)
• 28 Days to Vegas (2008) (director, producer)
• Forbidden Zone in Color! (2008) (actor, director, producer)
• 30 Days to Vegas (2009) (director, producer)
• Buzzine Celebrity Interviews (2009 to present) (director/producer)

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External links

• Official website
• NNDB listing--see birthdate
• Interview, quietearth.us