We lost a great hero of independent cinema today, which unfortunately most fans don’t know. John “Bud” Cardos started his career in the film business back in the ’40s with Hal Roach’s Our Gang, and continued on from there, working in just about every part of the industry. He worked in the stunt department, acting, directing, and so much more. As an actor, he worked a lot with Al Adamson, appearing in films like Blood on Dracula’s Castle and Satan’s Sadist (both in 1969), Five Bloody Graves and Horror of the Blood Monsters (both in 1970), and as a director, he gave us Kingdom of the Spiders (1977), The Dark (1979), and Mutant (1984).

In April of 2005, Cardos was a guest at Cinema Wasteland, and along with Gary Kent, Greydon Clark, and William Smith, had some of the best stories of the industry. Cardos told the captive audience about the day he worked on a western film one day, falling off a horse about a dozen different times for different parts of the film, as different characters. Never got hurt. Then when he gets home, all he wants to do is just soak in the tub and relax, and end up slipping in the tub and breaking his arm!

Being a fan of some of the lower budgeted films and the people behind it, like Al Adamson, it really shows you how talented and creative some of these people were, that really don’t get the credit. If you’re not familiar with Cardos or his work, do yourself a favor check out some of his work.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family. Gone, but never to be forgotten.