Neil Flanagan

Neil Flanagan was a regular stock company actor who appeared in a handful of enjoyably low-grade cheapie horror and exploitation features for notorious Staten Island Grade-Z schlock independent auteur Andy Milligan. Flanagan was born on May 6, 1934, in Springfield, Illinois, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved to New York in 1955. Flanagan gave an outrageously hammy portrayal of the titular depraved and deranged man of the cloth in Guru, the Mad Monk (1970). His best-ever film performance was as dour and snippy pathetic drag queen Cherry Lane in the splendidly sleazy Fleshpot on 42nd Street (1972). Flanagan played Daddy Sawbucks in the X-rated porno Little Orphan Sammy (1977) and a psychiatrist in the hardcore hit Sometime Sweet Susan (1975). Neil did guest spots on the TV shows Mrs. Columbo (1979), How the West Was Won (1976), The Bob Newhart Show (1972) and Wonder Woman (1975). Outside of movies and television, Flangan had a very lengthy and distinguished off-Broadway stage career as both actor and director. He was a co-founder of the Circle Repertory. He both starred in and directed many plays presented at Caffe Cino. Flanagan won an Obie in 1967 for his starring role in the play "The Madness of Lady Bright" and received a second Obie in 1976 for his contributions to off-Broadway theater. Among the other plays Neil acted in are "Knock, Knock," "Beethoven's Tenth," "Sheep on the Runway," and "The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild." Neil Flanagan died of AIDS at age 52 in Los Angeles on June 6, 1986.