Name Terence Winkless Children Lara Winkless Education New Trier High School | Spouse Raly Radouloff (m. 1995) Role Producer Siblings Jeff Winkless | |
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Occupation Film producer, screenwriter Movies The Nest, The Howling, Bloodfist, Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo, Rage and Honor Similar People Terri Treas, Gary Brandner, Franc Luz, Jeff Stearns, Lisa Langlois | ||
Voyage au bout de l'horreur (The Nest) - Terence H. Winkless - 1988
Terence H. Winkless is a producer, director, actor. and writer of motion pictures and television, and a cast member of The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, playing Bingo the Gorilla, also a cast member in Trade Routes, and Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo, among others.
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Early life
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Winkless's family moved to Chicago's North Shore and Terence went to the well-known New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, before continuing to the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and an Internship at the AFI Conservatory on the film Soylent Green with director Richard Fleischer under the aegis of AFI consultant Charlton Heston.
Career
Winkless directed the short movie Foster's Release in 1971, featured at the Edinburgh Film Festival, L.A. Filmex, and the Chicago Film Festival, among others. Foster's Release dealt with often told story of the baby sitter receiving phone calls from what we presume is a pervert, based on the voice and lewd nature of the calls. only to discover that the caller is in the house. The same subject has been repeated in other films, but this fourteen minute thriller captured its essence in excellent fashion, and features director/writer Dan O'Bannon as the bad guy in a terrific, bravura performance.
Winkless worked on the original Gone in 60 Seconds which featured a 40-minute car chase and a cast composed almost entirely of people who worked in producer H.B. Halicki's car shop. (Halicki continued to make car chase pictures until he died while making yet another in a tragic crash.) Winkless worked as an editor and then writer and director when the floundering story needed refinement.
Winkless got his first writing credit on Joe Dante'sThe Howling which featured Rob Bottin's breath-through. pneumatic transformation work.
Winkless went on to direct the similarly themed The Nest. But where The Howling featured werewolves, The Nest featured monsters derived from genetically altered cockroaches. wherein whatever they eat, they become. The resulting mayor-monster is a memorable piece of horror film-making.
A broad range of films has followed, starting with "Bloodfist (1989)", the story of real-life world champion Don "the Dragon" Wilson as a contestant in a brutal no-holds-barred Martial Arts tournament in Manila, and starring some of the biggest names of its time, including Tae-Bo's Billy Blanks and Rob Kaman, the Dutch Champion.
Following that came "Corporate Affairs (1990)" starring Peter Scolari and Mary Crosby as doomed lovers trying to move their boss's body out of the office before anyone discovers that he's dead. An array of films ensued:
The Berlin Conspiracy (1992)tarring Marc Singer and Stephen Davies followed a CIA agent and an [East German] Stasi agent roaming Berlin for nerve gas during the final days of the Berlin Wall. Made under the title "The Day the Wall Came Down," the film explored the similarities between East and West.
Winkless returned to the fighting films that put him on the map (Bloodfist was Roger Corman's biggest hit for his New Horizons company) with the creation of the Richard Norton and Cynthia RothRock picture Rage and Honor (1992). The story is wrapped around a fish out of water (Norton is Australian) accused of killing a crooked cop.
Next came "Not of This Earth" (1995), this one done for Showtime's horror series. Michael York and Richard Belzer star and this quirky and eccentric third incarnation.
The sequel to "White Wolves" followed. The award-winning film starred Elizabeth Berkley, Corin Nemec and Justin Whalin. "White Wolves 2: The Legend of the Wild" (1995) tracks the adventures and invention of four teens stranded in the wilderness when their leader is injured.
Ladykiller (1996) aka "Scene of the Crime," brought together Ben Gazzara and Alex MacArthur in a riff on the actor-murder-suspect helping Gazzara's cop to find the serial murderer of college co-eds. Also starring Terri Treas and Winkless favorite Stephen Davies.
"The Westing Game (1997)" aka "Get A Clue" came next. With a large cast and a Newbery Award-winning book, the film was made for Showtime and the Hallmark Channel. Ray Walston and Diane Ladd headed the large cast, which also included Ashley Peldon, Sally Kirkland, Billy Morrisette and Cliff DeYoung.
"Fire Over Afghanistan 2003)," with Jeff Stearns and Jordan Bayne came next. The film was made on the prosumer digital camera, the Sony PD-150, and was a precursor to the all digital world to come.
"Nightmare City" (2007) with Maxwell Caulfield explored the notion that world we experience is an illusion placed there by a corrupt regime determined to control our every feeling and idea.
"Twice As Dead (2009)," with Jeff Stearns and Darlene Conte, was also made on the new Sony digital camera and explored what happens when a husband and wife rob a bank to save their marriage, only to have the getaway go awry on meeting their contact for their fake passports.
Winkless continues to carve out new territory for himself as the author of a book "The Assassin's Apprentice."
Personal life
Winkless is married to screenwriter Raly Radouloff with whom he has a daughter, Lara Terry Winkless (b. 1998), they are based in Vancouver, BC with residences in California and Europe.