Adrian Weiss, 83; Producer, Director of Horror Films

Adrian Weiss, 83, producer and director of such cult films as “The Bride and the Beast” written by quirky Ed Wood, died Saturday in Oxnard.

Born in Brooklyn, Weiss became involved in film production as a teenager. One of his earliest efforts was the 1936 “Custer’s Last Stand.” But he soon settled into making horror films, many of which have become cult classics.

After “The White Gorilla” and “Devil Monster” in the mid-1940s, he produced “Bride of the Gorilla,” starring Raymond Burr, in 1951. Film historian Leonard Maltin has called the Burr outing a “surprisingly watchable trash movie.”

Weiss produced and directed “The Bride and the Beast” in 1958. Wood, scorned and yet loved by film buffs for the odd quality of his movies, wrote the screenplay about a hunter who discovers his bride was a gorilla in a previous life.

Later Weiss operated a film-distributing company known as Weiss Global Enterprises that included in its collection two films starring Ronald Reagan, “Cattle Queen of Montana” and “Tennessee’s Partner.”