Making Movies In
Cleveland County
Whore Karl Owensby’s version of
Hollywood is now underway.
By ROBKKT L. WILLIAMS
A stranger in the tiny towns in rural
Rutherford or Cleveland counties
might find himself in the midst of
screeching tires, racing cars, blazing
guns, and a brawl involving half the
town's population. But he’s not caught
in a mountain feud or moonshine war:
it's probably Earl Owensby of Shelby
shooting another movie.
Owensby. a native of the tiny mill
village of Cliffside near Shelby, always
had a dream during his poverty-
stricken boyhood that he would one
day become a movie star. And now he
is one. although he had to build his own
studios and produce his movies in
order to star in one.
When he started he was laughed off
as a member of the new rich who had
more money than brains, as an
egomaniac who had to hold title to a
spot in the limelight, as a naive country
boy who thought that all he needed to
make a successful movie was a combi¬
nation of money and actors.
Hollywood and the other sophisti¬
cated movie capitals of the country are
no longer laughing, for Owensby has
now established a track record that is
rather enviable: he has made nearly a
dozen movies, and each and every one
has been a moneymaker — an oddity in
these days of multi-million dollar
boxoffice flops.
Gambled On A Dream
Owcnsby’s youth was something
right out of Charles Dickens. Reared
by foster parents who lived close
enough to the mansion of the mill
owner in Cliffside for the young man to
see readily the bitter differences be¬
tween the worlds of the have and the
have-nots, his movie dream was. in a
sense, a means of escaping the unsav¬
ory world of reality.
After reaching adulthood and
spending several years in military ser¬
vice. Owensby decided to try starting
his own business, and for years he sold
pneumatic tools, with his “office" in
the trunk of his car. But he persisted,
and soon he was president of his own
small company, and before he was
through he had originated eleven dif¬
ferent and successful companies.
Wealth brought its pleasures, but the
old dream of moviedom was still there,
so he decided to gamble close to live
million dollars on his dream. He built
the studio, hired a script writer, found
a cast of supporting actors willing to
work for considerably less than Equity
would demand in other parts of the
country, and he ground out his first
movie.
Speed And Violence
It wasn’t nominated for any awards,
and the critics didn’t give it glowing
Ginger Aldcnc. girlfriend of the lole Elvii Pre»-
ley, poiei with Owensby os they complete the
signing of a controct lor her to co-stor with
him in "Living Legend", to be shown in North
Corolino theotres ne«t month, (photo courtesy
EOCorp.)
18
Eorl Owensby in his office, stonding before fhe
fobied scene from "Gone With The Wind" His
own modest version, titled "Plontotion", is to
be filmed in the foil, (photo by Robert L.
Williams)
reviews, but “Challenge” attracted
viewers and it made money. Ad¬
mittedly. many of the viewers went to
the theatres to see just what kind of
film could be made in North Carolina
and with an all-amateur cast, in the
honest sense of the word.
What the curious viewers saw was a
mixture of speed and violence right out
of one of the old Hollywood films of
the I940’s. with the big difference in
quality. “Challenge” wasn't a par¬
ticularly good movie, but it got EO
Corporation off the ground and
spurred Owensby onward.
In rapid succession he ground out
“The Brass Ring." "Frank Chal¬
lenge." "Manhunter." "Death
Driver." "Dark Sunday.” "Hooch."
"Buckstone County Prison." and
others, all shot predominantly on
Owcnsby's 44-acre studio lot near
Boiling Springs, a few miles from
Shelby. And Owensby has been the
star of all of them.
As the quality of his acting and of his
scripts increased, he decided to try
more ambitious projects. One that de¬
manded considerable special effects
was yet another version of the old
Wolfman legend, w ith Owensby as the
hirsute hero. The script was written by
Worth Keeler, a Charlotte native
hardly old enough to vote at the time he
was given the assignment.
Also successful financially. "Wolf-
man" added another bonus to the
Owensby story: Harcourt. Brace and
Jovanovich decided to purchase the
THE STATE. JULY 1979
