Born on July 4th, 1930, in Passaic, New Jersey, Ferde Grofe Jr. is the son of renowned arranger and composer Ferde Grofe, whose significant contributions to popular orchestral music spanned the 1920s to the 1950s.
Early in his career, Grofe Jr. pursued a path in acting, eventually transitioning into filmmaking after serving as an assistant to legendary producer Sam Katzman at Columbia Studios' Clover Productions.
He went on to explore independent filmmaking, initially collaborating with American International Pictures (AIP) and later partnering with his longtime collaborator, George Montgomery, in the Philippines.
Grofe Jr.'s notable breakout films include the critically acclaimed Fortress of the Dead (1965) and Warkill (1968).
In 1969, he filmed The Proud and the Damned (1972) in Colombia, followed by the production of Ride the Tiger (1970) for CBS in 1970, which unfortunately received disappointing reviews.
The following year, Grofe Jr. filmed the cult classic The Day of the Wolves (1971) in Lake Havasu, Arizona, marking his only feature film shot on the continental United States.
After a sabbatical period in Colombia, Grofe Jr. returned to the United States in the mid-1970s to produce Sentimental Journey (1976),a documentary short about the retirement of the Douglas DC-3 airplane, featuring and narrated by Hollywood icon Jimmy Stewart, which he considers the highlight of his career.
Grofe Jr. continued his feature film production career with two more movies in the Philippines, Hell Raiders (1988) and the horror film The Third Hand (1988),before segueing into documentary television show production and eventually retiring to the Pacific Northwest.
