Entertainment> Celebrities

"Hell's Angels '69" director Lee Madden dies at 82

(Agencies)
2009-04-15 16:35

LOS ANGELES– Lee Madden, who directed the cult film "Hell's Angels '69," died of complications from pneumonia on Thursday in Camarillo, Calif. He was 82.

Madden's first film was the 1969 release "Hell's Angels" for American International Pictures. The film starred the real Oakland Hell's Angels, including Sonny Barger, then the president of the Angels. It was the only fiction film in which the gang ever participated.

The film has been recently developed as a potential remake at Sony Pictures.

Among Madden's other feature directing credits were 1970's "Angel Unchained," a biker remake of "The Magnificent Seven" starring Tyne Daly and Don Stroud that Madden also wrote and produced; "The Night God Screamed" (1971), starring 1940s icon Jeanne Crain; and "Night Creature" (1978), starring Donald Pleasence.

The Brooklyn native also directed episodes of 1970s TV series including "Cade's County," starring Glenn Ford, "Bearcats!," starring Rod Taylor, and "The Most Deadly Game," starring Ralph Bellamy.

His company, Lee Madden Associates, was a major supplier of industrial films and TV commercials. His principal clients were automobile companies.

Among Madden's survivors is a son, David Madden, executive vice president programing at Fox Television Studios.