Jonathan Haze was born on 1 April 1929.
I had assumed that he died young. He was in a bunch of Roger Corman films in the late 1950s and early 1960s. And then he mostly disappeared. But he only died a year and a half ago — at the age of 95.
If you believe Wikipedia, you would think that Haze was just working at a gas station when he was discovered. But back in 1998, Psychotronic Video interviewed him. He was pushing 70. And his memory wasn’t great. For example, he claimed, “[Buddy Rich] led Woodrow Wilson’s inaugural parade…” Well, Rich was born in 1917. And Wilson’s second inaugural was over 5 months before that. Still, that’s the kind of thing people mess up. He might have meant Warren G Harding, which would make sense based on other things Haze said.
Regardless, in the interview, we learn that Haze was active in theater in his hometown of Pittsburgh. And he specifically moved to Los Angeles to act. He did indeed get a job at the Tide Oil Company gas station on Santa Monica Boulevard. And he did indeed meet “little guy” Wyott Ordung (but Haze refers to him by his middle name, Barney). Ordung wrote the screenplay for Robot Monster. But at the time, he was directing Monster from the Ocean Floor, and he cast Haze in a small role.
That film was the first one that Roger Corman produced. And it started a long working relationship between Jonathan Haze and him. They made roughly a dozen films together. He played small roles in all of them. Except for The Little Shop of Horrors. Jonathan Haze is mostly remembered for this film. And why not? It’s a lot of fun! I think A Bucket of Blood is better. But the two make a great double feature!
After this period, Haze didn’t work a lot in feature films. He met Haskell Wexler in the late-1960s. The two of them did a lot of commercial production. Haze did admit to wanting to get back into acting. But it never really worked out. Hollywood is incredibly stratified. And coming back is very hard, even when people respect the low-budget films you made.
Jonathan Haze in The Little Shop of Horrors via Archive. It is in the public domain.