John "Bud" Cardos, a multitalented individual, was born in 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri. His family had a fascinating connection to the entertainment industry, with his cousin Spyros Skouras working at Twentieth Century-Fox and his father and uncle managing the lavish Graumann's Egyptian and Chinese theaters.
Cardos began his extensive show business career as a child actor in Hal Roach's 1940s "Our Gang" comedies. He later became a rodeo rider in his teenage years and worked as an animal wrangler and bird handler on Alfred Hitchcock's renowned killer animal classic The Birds (1963).
Cardos gained cult popularity for his roles in several entertainingly trashy exploitation features for legendary Grade-Z schlockmeister Al Adamson. He is particularly memorable as the Mohawk-sporting Native American biker Firewater in the splendidly sleazy Satan's Sadists (1969) and as the crazed half-breed Joe Lightfoot in the gritty (and often incoherent) western Five Bloody Graves (1969).
He also got involved in stunt work, performing in films such as Nightmare in Wax (1969),the trippy hippie gem Psych-Out (1968),The Savage Seven (1968),The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971),and Jud (1971).
Cardos took on second unit director chores for Sam Peckinpah's magnificent landmark western The Wild Bunch (1969). He was a production manager on many movies, including the creepy Dead of Night (1974),Killers Three (1968),The Rebel Rousers (1970),Lash of Lust (1972),Hell's Bloody Devils (1970),and Deadwood '76 (1965).
Cardos made his directorial debut with the blaxploitation item The Red, White, and Black (1970). His other directorial efforts include the superior revolt-of-nature horror winner Kingdom of the Spiders (1977),the not-half-bad sci-fi/horror opus The Dark (1979),and the nifty zombie flick Forbidden World (1982).
Outside of his substantial film work, Cardos was also a Western art enthusiast. He passed away at the age of 91 on December 31, 2020, in Acton, California.
