Trivia

Enlisted in the US Marine Corps in May of 1943. His claims to have worn women's underwear beneath his uniform in battle never seemed to distract him from his duty: In addition to taking part in combat in the Marshall Islands and Noumea, he also survived the bloody battle for Tarawa. By all accounts he was fierce in combat. During the invasion he had most of his front teeth knocked out in hand-to-hand combat with a Japanese soldier he eventually killed. Wood later served in a G-2 (intelligence) unit in the South Pacific until he was shot in the legs by a Japanese machine-gunner. The wounds became gangrenous and he served out the remainder of his time as an office typist, and was honorably discharged in 1944. He was awarded the Silver and Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and a Sharpshooter's Medal. By all accounts, Wood was an exemplary combat marine.

His first wife, Norma McCarty, kicked him out of their house on their wedding night when she discovered he was wearing women's underwear. The marriage was never consummated, serving as grounds for an annulment less than four months later.

At the time of his death the industry newspaper "Variety" didn't run an obituary.

The budget of the biopic Ed Wood (1994) was "more than one hundred times greater than every Ed Wood budget combined". (Quoted from the documentary "Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora" (1994), at 0:48:03).

A surviving non-fiction manuscript, supposedly written by Wood, about working in Hollywood was published as "Hollywood Rat Race" in December 1998.

Hired Lyle Talbot and Bela Lugosi at the nadir of their careers. Both actors would be paid off daily in cash, not necessarily by their demands (although Lugosi was often insistent due to his addiction to pain killers). Wood habitually paid off everyone, cast and crew, in cash. In the last few years of his life, this habit led to him being robbed while stumbling out of liquor stores in the seedy neighborhood he lived in.

Three of his films have been lampooned on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988): Bride of the Monster (1955), The Violent Years (1956) and The Sinister Urge (1960). MST's producers considered including Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957), but found it had too much dialog for the show's format, and that it would make too obvious a target, stating that "Everyone's made fun of 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'." Series regular and head writer Michael J. Nelson would, however, go on to do an audio commentary for a 2006 DVD release.

Upon returning to the US following WWII, he briefly attended Northwestern University in Chicago before joining a travelling carnival (he started out as the Geek, biting the heads off of live chickens, before becoming the Half Man, Half Woman).

Noted actor George Zucco, whose career had hit the skids and who was trying to recover from a recent stroke, approached Wood in 1953 about working for him. Zucco literally begged him for work, but Wood had nothing in the casting stage at the time.

The AKA "Akdov Telmig" was used for one film only, and that name read backwards denotes the mood in which One Million AC/DC (1969) was filmed: Vodka Gimlet.

Executor of B-picture actor Kenne Duncan's estate. Duncan and Wood were good friends and longtime drinking buddies. Wood held Duncan's wake (a BYOB event) at the pool of his apartment building and invited guests to give their recollections of his friend on the diving board.

His marriage with Norma McCarty was never legally annulled by the time he married his second wife Kathy Wood in 1956.

Born October 10, the same day that his idol Orson Welles died many years later.

The continued interest in Wood led to two of his steamy adult paperbacks being reset and republished. They included "Death of a Transvestite" (1967, aka "Let Me Die in Drag") republished in 1995 and 1999, and "Killer in Drag" (1965) that was republished in 1999.

Had two stepsons: John and Michael McCarty.

Profiled in Tom Weaver's book "It Came from Weaver Five" (McFarland & Co., 1996).

One of his regular cast members was film veteran Lyle Talbot, who also played Commissioner Gordon in one of the first Batman serials. Woods biopic, Ed Wood (1994), was directed by Tim Burton, who also directed two "Batman" films.

According to Ed Wood stock player/personal acquaintance, Paul Marco, Wood wore a complete set of dentures, which he often failed to put in during his later years.

During the early 1970's, Wood was one of four staff writers employed by Pendulum, writing copy for their adult magazines and earning bonuses for each pulp novel he generated.

In the biography "Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life & Art of Edward D. Wood Jr." The Amazing Criswell recounted that during Wood's final years, living on Yucca St. in Hollywood, Wood began having his paychecks sent directly to the neighboring Pla-Boy Liquor Store and eventually resorted to "borrowing" typewriters from acquaintances, which he would trade for credit at the store.