11 Facts About Monte Hellman

Monte Hellman was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor.

Monte Hellman was born on July 12,1929, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to Gertrude and Fred Himmelbaum, who were vacationing in New York at the time of his birth.

The family ended up settling in Albany, New York, before relocating to Los Angeles, California, when Monte Hellman was 5 years old.

Monte Hellman graduated from Los Angeles High School, and attended Stanford University, graduating in 1951.

Monte Hellman then attended graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles, but did not complete his studies.

Monte Hellman was among a group of directing talent mentored by Roger Corman, who produced several of the director's early films.

Monte Hellman began by working on "low budget exploitation films with a personal slant," yet learned from Corman the art of producing commercially viable films on a tight budget while staying true to a personal vision.

Monte Hellman's most critically acclaimed film is considered to be Two-Lane Blacktop, a road movie that was a box-office failure at the time of its initial release but, according to Danny Peary in 1981, it has become a perennial cult favorite.

Monte Hellman finished two pictures in post-production that were started by other directors who died after the movies were shot, the Muhammad Ali bio The Greatest and Avalanche Express.

Monte Hellman was an executive producer on Quentin Tarantino's debut feature Reservoir Dogs.

Monte Hellman sustained a fall at his home on April 19,2021.