Howard Alk

Howard Alk (1930 – January 1982) was a Chicago-based filmmaker.

Career

Howard Alk enrolled in the University of Chicago at the age of 14.[1] He was a member of the Compass Players cabaret troupe and one of the founders (along with fellow U of C graduates Bernard Sahlins and Paul Sills) of The Second City.[1][2][3] Alk had previously worked with Sills at the Gate of Horn.[1] According to Sahlins, Alk coined the group's name.[4] He left the group in the early 1960s.[1]

Alk was associated with The Film Group, a Chicago film production company, where he shot and edited several of the group's films including American Revolution 2 (1969) and The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971).[5]

Alk was a longtime friend and collaborator of Bob Dylan, whom he met in 1963.[6] The two worked together on the films Eat the Document, Hard Rain, and Renaldo and Clara.[4]

He also worked on Janis, Festival, Luxman Baul's Movie and other films.[5]

Death

Alk was a heroin user.[7]

In January 1982,[nb 1] Alk was found dead at Rundown Studios, Dylan's studio in Santa Monica, California.[8][9] Although the coroner ruled his death to be due to an accidental heroin overdose,[9] various sources report his death to be a suicide.[4][7][8] Alk's first wife, Jones, and his second wife Joan, both believed he intentionally killed himself. But no evidence either way has ever been found. [9]

He was survived by his parents Rozetta and Lou, his wife Joan and their young son Jesse.

Films

Notes

  1. Heylin states that Alk was found dead on New Year's Day 1982, but Sounes notes that he was found on January 3, 1982.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mike Thomas (December 10, 2009). "Excerpt: 'The Second City Unscripted'". NPR.
  2. Don B. Wilmeth (September 13, 2007). The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 586. ISBN 978-0-521-83538-1.
  3. Jeanne Leep (May 15, 2008). Theatrical Improvisation: Short Form, Long Form, and Sketch-Based Improv. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-230-60467-4. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Patrick Friel (January 6, 2008). "Second City cinéaste". TimeOut Chicago.
  5. 1 2 "Howard Alk at IMDB". Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  6. Nothing to Turn Off: The Films and Video of Bob Dylan. Lulu.com. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-615-18336-7. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Barney Hoskyns (2006). Across the Great Divide: The Band and America. HAL LEONARD Publishing Company. p. 435. ISBN 978-1-4234-1442-1. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Clinton Heylin (April 29, 2003). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. HarperCollins. p. 527. ISBN 978-0-06-052569-9. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 Howard Sounes (April 2002). Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. GROVE/ATLANTIC Incorporated. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-8021-3891-0. Retrieved July 22, 2013.

External links

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