Donald F. Glut | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1944-02-19)February 19, 1944 (age 81) Pecos, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1953–present |
| Notable work | The Empire Strikes Back novelization Dagar the Invincible The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor Tragg and the Sky Gods The Penny Arkade |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1980) Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing (2025) |
Donald Frank Glut (/ɡluːt/; born February 19, 1944)[1] is an American writer, motion picture film director, andscreenwriter. He is best known for writingthe novelization of the secondStar Wars film,The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
From 1953 to 1969, Glut made a total of 41amateur films, on subjects ranging from dinosaurs, to unauthorized adaptations of such characters asSuperman,The Spirit, andSpider-Man.[2]
Due to publicity he received in the pages ofForrest J Ackerman's magazineFamous Monsters of Filmland, Glut was able to achieve a degree of notoriety based on his work. This allowed him to increase the visibility of his films by obtaining the services of known actors such asKenne Duncan andGlenn Strange, who reprised his most famous role as theFrankenstein Monster for Glut.
His final amateur film was 1969'sSpider-Man, after which he moved into professional work full-time.
On October 3, 2006, Epoch Cinema released a two-DVD set of all 41 of Glut's amateur films titledI Was A Teenage Moviemaker. The total running time of both DVDs is 480 minutes, and includes a documentary about the making of those films, with interviews with Forrest J Ackerman,Randal Kleiser,Bob Burns,Jim Harmon,Scott Shaw,Paul Davids,Bill Warren, and others.[3]
Over the next decades, Glut pursued a variety of professions in the entertainment field. He worked heavily as a screenwriter, mostly in children's television on shows such asShazam!,Land of the Lost,Spider-Man,Transformers,Challenge of the GoBots,Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,DuckTales,Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle,The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians,G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero,X-Men, and many more.
He also claimed to have created some of the characters and much of the back story for theMasters of the Universe toy line, which served as the basis for the TV show.[4]
With the release of 1996'sDinosaur Valley Girls, Glut began a professional directing career that has seen him helm several exploitation-style films, such asThe Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula (2001),The Mummy's Kiss (2003),Countess Dracula's Orgy of Blood (2004),The Mummy's Kiss: 2nd Dynasty (2006), andBlood Scarab (2007).[5] He wrote and directedDances with Werewolves (2017) andTales of Frankenstein (2018).
Having been a classmate and friend[6] of Glut at theUniversity of Southern California,[7]George Lucas approached him to write thenovelization ofA New Hope, but Glut turned him down due to the low pay and the fact the Lucas' name would be on the cover. Glut then wrote thenovelization ofThe Empire Strikes Back (1980). While working on the novel, he had difficulty because details of the script and the art design were compartmentalized insideLucasfilm. Descriptions of some characters and scenes in the novel turned out differently from the film as Glut had to base them on concept art byRalph McQuarrie.[6]
Glut has written approximately 65 published books, both novels, and nonfiction, plus numerous children's books based on franchises. Many of his nonfiction books have been about dinosaurs, includingDinosaur Dictionary and theDinosaurs: The Encyclopedia series of reference works.
Glut created and wrote several series forWestern Publishing's line ofGold Key Comics includingThe Occult Files of Dr. Spektor,[8]Dagar the Invincible,[9] andTragg and the Sky Gods.[10] AtMarvel Comics, he wroteCaptain America,TheInvaders,Kull the Destroyer,Solomon Kane,Star Wars, andWhat If...?. His work forWarren Publishing includedCreepy,Eerie, andVampirella.[11] More recently, Glut has been working for Warrant Publishing Company, a company that is publishing magazines as an homage to Warren Publishing's past work using similar layouts and artwork. Glut is working as an associate editor and writer on some of Warrant's homage titles such asThe Creeps andVampiress Carmilla.
In 1967–1968, Glut played bass forThe Penny Arkade. They recorded only one album, produced byMichael Nesmith of theMonkees. The album was not released until 2004 as a limitedRecord Store Day LP/CD bySundazed Music.
Glut received theInkpot Award in 1980[12] and theBill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing in 2025.[13]
It's an 11-minute fan-film produced by Donald Glut in 1969, in which Spider-Man (played, of course, by Glut) battles against a supervillain called 'Dr. Lightning'.
Donald F. Glut's amateur movies, shot between 1953 and 1969, acquired a kind of legendary status over the years partly because the films, with titles likeSon of Tor andSpy Smasher vs. the Purple Monster, were frequently mentioned in the pages ofFamous Monsters of Filmland andFantastic Monsters.
Dr. Adam Spektor, a researcher of the supernatural, was introduced inMystery Comics Digest #5 (July, 1972)...The story was written by Don Glut...and drawn by Dan Spiegle.
Dagar started as a non-series character, the hero of a story that writer Don Glut...wrote for Gold Key'sMystery Comics Digest.
Writer Don Glut...and artist Jesse Santos...supplied the comic, in which aliens from interstellar space had a profound effect on a tribe of Stone Age people.
Don Glut and Sheldon Mayer have been selected to receive the 2025 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing.
| Preceded by | Kull the Destroyer writer 1977–1978 | Succeeded by n/a |
| Preceded by | What If...? writer 1977–1978 | Succeeded by Roy Thomas |
| Preceded by Roy Thomas | Captain America writer 1978 | Succeeded by |
