Mark Le Buse (born Allan Busey; September 7, 1917 - March 5, 1999)[1] was a Hollywood prop maker, sculptor, and film actor.
After serving in the Navy as an electrician before World War II, and working as a shipfitter during it, Allan Busey found work in Hollywood, doing woodwork and prop construction for the major studios.[2] He worked on several movies for Paramount, Including Shane, Elephant Walk, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, and 3 Ring Circus.[3]
In 1954, he moved to Hawaii, to escape the Los Angeles smog.[4] In addition to various odd jobs, such as driving a taxi, he began to carve sculptures in driftwood and black coral for the tourist market. After 1960, he sold out of a shop at the Kona Inn on the big island.[5]
He was cast in small roles in 1964's Ride the Wild Surf, starring Fabian and Shelly Fabares, and multiple episodes of Hawaii Five-O in the late 1960s.[6] In the mid-1960s, he changed his name to Mark Le Buse on the advice of a Shinto priest, who gave him and his second wife Jill new names determined by numerology.[7]
In 1971, Le Buse and his wife left Hawaii, intending to emigrate to New Zealand.[8] Instead, they spent three years in the Philippines, where Le Buse acted in several low-budget thrillers, before ending up in Western Australia.
His artistic work in Australia included a series of approximately 48 limestone outdoor sculptures,[9] most notably large-scale works for the Atlantis Marine Park near Perth, such as a ten-meter high Neptune with trident (which was Heritage listed by the Western Australia Heritage Council in 2006)[10] and “the disembodied head of Jacques Cousteau.”[11]
References edit
- ^ Social Security Death Index
- ^ Buker, Betty Finley (1972). Men and women of Hawaii 1972 : a biographical directory of noteworthy men and women of Hawaii. Honolulu: Star-Bulletin Print. Co. p. 343.
- ^ Chun, Ella (February 20, 1956). "Honolulu Wood Carver Recalls Movie Lot Days". Honolulu-Advertiser.
- ^ "Wood Carver Escapes L.A. Smog, Will Live in Isles". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. February 8, 1956.
- ^ Kay, Diane Fife (1990). Contemporary Hawaiian carving, sculpture, and bowl-turning : an analysis of post-contact and cultural influences [PhD dissertation]. University of Hawaii at Manoa. pp. 230–233.
- ^ "Mark Le Buse". IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base). Retrieved November 5, 2020.
- ^ Bisset, Winfred (October 6, 1976). "The eight lives of Mark Le Buse". Australian Women's Weekly. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
- ^ Letter from Jill Le Buse to Gretchen Schoff, June 8, 1971
- ^ "Rutter Park mystery solved". Town of Cambridge [Floreat, Western Australia]. January 12, 2017. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
- ^ "King Neptune sculpture". InHerit- State Heritage Office. August 7, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
- ^ "Atlantis Marine Park- Two Rocks, Australia". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
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