Alvin Lewis Fast

American film maker and promoter of beauty contests and talent shows, a screenwriter and minor journalist writing for The Hollywood Reporter. Raised on the Canadian prairie, he left home at 16, hitchhiking with his brother into the U.S. He joined the American Marines in 1942 and served for three years in the South Pacific, learning to kill instead of shaping teenage goals. On the G.I. bill, he majored in English literature at Stanford University, CA. Due to his brilliant studies, short stories and poetry, upon graduation he was offered a professorship. His interest lay more in glamour than academia, and he moved south to Hollywood. For the next 45 years, Fast promoted shows, wrote and produced documentaries and features, and played in the show biz scene. With an optimistic zest for life, he savored both the sensual and the intellectual experience. He made exploitation films, sex, horror and violence just short of an "R" rating, including "The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant," "Satan's Cheerleaders," "Brothers," "Hard-Rock Tunnel," and "Death Trap." Fast married Dorothy King in 1946; one daughter, Lahna; divorced. He married Ruth Weiss in 1965; one daughter, Alexis; divorced. While at the Cannes film festival, 1991, he began to feel tired and unwell. Over the next six months he lost up to ten pounds a month and was diagnosed with lung cancer in August. He closed out his business, sold everything, and moved in with his sister in November. He died 2/08/1992, c. 7:15 AM, Redlands, CA.