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The Filmmaker
Glen Coburn was born in Dallas and over the years, he grew up. He was an accomplished photographer by the age of ten and while in high school, he made a Super 8 film entitled The Campaign which was most noteworthy for its use of sight gags. All scenes were shot in one take and the entire 15-minute film was edited in camera.After graduating from college with a degree in B.S., he made his first feature length motion picture at age 23 in 1984. With Bloodsuckers From Outer Space, Coburn continued his use of sight gags. This time he incorporated oddly cerebral dialog and made a conscious decision not to move the camera. The film continues to enjoy a cult following in certain secluded rural areas of the United States and Canada.
In 1985, while in pre-production for his second film, Coburn quickly completed his third film, which was actually only a portion of a film. He wrote and directed Baby Born With Full Beard, one story in an anthology called, Tabloid! This piece of work is clearly Coburn’s best to date. He played the lead opposite his wife, Kay Bay. The 18-minute film combined a variety of elements including: trailer house living, unscrupulous drug dealing, a car chase, a pregnant woman firing a revolver from the passenger window of a moving flesh-tone Rambler, a foul-mouthed gun toting mother-in-law, a shoot out, an exploding truck, three murders, a baby born with a full beard, and a theme of reconciliation and family values.
Skipping his second film altogether, he went on to make his fourth film in 1995. The film entitled alternately Among the Dead and Hollywood Deadbeat was technically his finest achievement. The 16mm black and white psychological drama signaled a new phase in his career. In a fusion of smart dialog, competent direction, the use of real actors, and outstanding cinematography and art direction, Coburn managed to produce a motion picture that was never released.
Coburn is known for performing in his own films. First, he played a mumbling, pill-popping, under-aged research scientist in BFOS. In his finest role, he portrayed the unwashed, overweight, drunken drug dealer in Baby Born with Full Beard. In Among the Dead, he played a ghost from old Hollywood, once again relying on the use of a weird vocal characterization to bolster his acting technique.
Aside from performing in his own films, he also played a lion in a high school production staged for elementary school students who were bused in to see the play. In film, he bravely portrayed Guard #4 in an extreme wide-shot in the straight to video movie, Fatal Skies starring Timothy Leary. Later, in The Willies he played two roles: the back of a man exiting a drug store, and the shadow stand-in of Sean Astin inside a tent at night.
