Note: This is a repost of “Before They Were Stars” feature from four years ago, but I felt it should go back into the spotlight following the unfortunate recent death of Wes Craven, who has passed away of brain cancer at the age of 76. R.I.P. to one of the greatest horror directors of all time.
Though he doesn’t like to talk about it too much, Wes Craven had to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work on porn films in the 1970s in order to pay the bills. Pretty much all his work was uncredited or done under a pseudonym, but when he makes an actual appearance on camera in one of them, there’s nothing you can do to hide the evidence. Even though his debut horror film, The Last House on the Left, was a huge success, the immense controversy surrounding its release meant that Craven couldn’t get the funding to direct his follow-up effort, The Hills Have Eyes, for five years. In the meantime, he made this brief unbilled cameo playing a sleazy photographer in a 1976 hardcore porn film called Sweet Cakes.