The Curtis Harrington papers span the years 1875-2008 (bulk 1945-2006) and encompass 30 linear feet. The collection consists of production files, television files, story files, correspondence, subject files, writings, books, periodicals, oversize materials, and scrapbooks. The production files contain scripts, production material, correspondence, clippings, and reviews. The files cover Harrington’s experimental films from the 1940s through mid-1950s, work undertaken as Jerry Wald’s assistant from 1956 to 1963, and films he directed between 1963 and 2002. Of special interest is documentation on Harrington's efforts in the 1960s to have James Whale’s THE OLD DARK HOUSE preserved. The unproduced files contain scripts, pre-production material, and correspondence for several unrealized projects from the 1950s through the 1990s, including Harrington’s long-running, but unsuccessful, attempt to film Iris Murdoch’s “The Unicorn.” The television files contain scripts, production material, and correspondence covering several made-for-television movies in the 1970s and series work from the late 1970s through the 1980s. There is also correspondence related to Harrington’s attempts in the early 1960s to work in television. The story files contain primarily scripts. Of special interest is “The Black Doll” written by Edward Gorey. The correspondence files span the years 1937-2006 and include many significant mid-20th century American experimental filmmakers and cultural figures, such as Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren, Christopher Isherwood, Gregory Markopoulos, Anais Nin, Amos Vogel, and Josef Von Sternberg.

The subject files contain drafts of an incomplete autobiography titled “Nice People Don’t Work in Hollywood”; correspondence with experimental film distributor Brandon Films; materials on the advancement of experimental film from Creative Film Associates and the Experimental Film Society; genealogical and personal family material; film festival programs; interviews; Jerry Wald Productions materials; a journal and notebooks; drafts of Harrington’s oral history conducted here at the Academy; personal materials; and drafts and the final version of the index on Josef von Sternberg. Writings include drafts of articles written for periodicals and journals as well as unpublished stories. There are books on film and filmmaking, many inscribed to Harrington. The periodicals include journals Harrington wrote for, such as “Cahiers du Cinema,” “Cinema,” and “The Quarterly of Film, Radio and Television,” as well as magazines that contain articles on, and interviews with, Harrington. Oversize materials include two journals dating from the late 1940s. Three scrapbooks contain materials related to Harrington’s childhood and material from the 1950s relating mostly to his experimental films.

Curtis Harrington (1926-2007) was born Gene Curtis Harrington in Los Angeles. His early films were primarily of the horror genre, starting with an amateur film he made as a teenager based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” He grew up in Beaumont, California, attended Occidental College, and graduated from the University of Southern California. He worked in avant-garde and experimental cinema in the 1940s through mid-1950s, associating and collaborating with such filmmakers as Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren, and Gregory Markopoulous. As a student of film, Harrington wrote critical articles and screened and distributed experimental films through the Experimental Film Society that he co-ran with his friend Kenneth Anger in the late 1940s. He was an admirer of the films of director Josef von Sternberg and produced an index on Sternberg’s work in 1949 for “Sight and Sound” magazine.

During the early 1950s, Harrington spent time in Europe where he filmed THE ASSIGNMNET (1953) and DANGEROUS HOUSES (1954, unfinished) and wrote for periodicals such as “Cahiers du Cinema.” Upon returning to the U.S., Harrington produced his final non-mainstream film, THE WORMWOOD STAR (1955). After Harrington was hired as Jerry Wald’s assistant in 1956, he wrote MARDI GRAS (1958) and associate produced HOUND-DOG MAN (1959), RETURN TO PETYON PLACE (1961), and THE STRIPPER (1963). Independent of Wald, Harrington adapted his own unpublished short story into his first full-length feature, NIGHT TIDE (1961), starring Dennis Hopper.

After Wald’s death in 1962, Harrington pursued a career in directing, with such features as GAMES (1967), WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? (1971), WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (1971), and THE KILLING KIND (1973). Although Harrington worked on several unproduced film projects during the 1970s through 1990s, including “The Guests,” scripted by Joseph Stefano, and “The Unicorn,” based on the story written by Iris Murdoch, his only released feature film was MATA HARI (1985). Beginning in the late 1960s, Harrington turned to directing movies made for television, including THE KILLER BEES (1974). During the mid-1970s through 1980s he directed episodic television shows, such as BARETTA, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, DYNASTY, and HOTEL. He ceased working after the late 1980s and in the ensuing decade found himself an honoree at film festivals and retrospectives. In 2001 he returned to avant-garde filmmaking and produced his final film, USHER (2002), a fitting end to his career.