Actor / Director Profile

John Alderman was a talented, prolific and ubiquitous actor in numerous low-budget exploitation features who appeared in everything from 60's soft-core items to 70s drive-in fare to 80s hardcore porno pictures throughout the course of his long and diverse career. Alderman was born on June 6, 1933 in Syracuse, New York. He first began acting in both films and TV shows alike in the late 50s. John alternated between lead and co-starring roles. His most memorable parts include pathetic twitchy heroin addict Jimmy Devlin in the gloriously lurid "The Hard Road," antsy hoodlum Lattimer in "This Is a Hijack!," a flunky for Shelley Winters in Jack Starrett's delightful blaxploitation blast "Cleopatra Jones," stuttering drug dealer Cockroach in "The Black Godfather," uptight all-girls school principal Dr. Baxter in the amusing "Carnal Madness," and coldly rational researcher Dr. Frank Rogers in the nifty sci-fi doomsday thriller "The Alpha Incident." Alderman appeared in four soft-core movies for legendary schlockmeister David F. Friedman: "Starlet!," "Thar She Blows!," "The Erotic Adventures of Zorro," and "Trader Hornee." Although he primarily worked in maverick independent cinema productions, John nonetheless did manage to pop up in the occasional mainstream film like "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" and "The Stunt Man." In the early 80's Alderman acted in a handful of hardcore X-rated porno pictures for director Gary Graver under the pseudonym Frank Hallowell. Among the TV shows John made guest appearances on are "Hunter," "Dynasty," "The Fall Guy," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Iron Horse," "12 O'Clock High," "The Lieutenant," "Checkmate," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "Hawaiian Eye," "Wagon Train," and "Gunsmoke." He directed the crime opus "Lisa's Folly" and co-wrote the script for the lowbrow comedy romp "C.B. Hustlers." Alderman died at age 53 of an apparent heart attack on January 12, 1987 in Hollywood, California.