Jack Starrett

Starting out as an actor and production assistant in basement-budget cycle flicks like Angels from Hell, Jack Starrett matriculated into a director of exploitation and blaxploitation features. Starrett is the "auteur" of such low-cost money-spinners as Slaughter (1972), Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Final Chapter: Walking Tall (1977). In the late seventies, he was one of the principal directors of TV's Starsky and Hutch. Starrett's TV directorial credits include the 1979 miniseries Mr. Horn, in which he assigned himself the supporting role of General Crook. He briefly returned to full-time acting with a featured role in Sylvester Stallone's First Blood (1982). Jack Starrett died of blood poisoning at the age of 52.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide