Allen Baron
Allen Baron (born 1927) is an American filmmaker best known as the writer, director, and star of the cult neo-noir Blast of Silence (1961). Born in Brooklyn to Polish and Russian immigrant parents, he grew up during the Depression, dropped out of high school at sixteen, served in the Navy, and later studied at the School of Visual Arts before working as a cartoonist, illustrator, and taxi driver. He raised the film's budget independently and shot it guerrilla-style on the streets of New York without permits; once hailed as a possible new Orson Welles, he was nonetheless overlooked by the studios, and the film only found wide recognition through its Criterion release in 2008. Baron went on to direct hundreds of episodes of network television, including Charlie's Angels, Cagney & Lacey, and The Dukes of Hazzard.