Biography for
Reggie Bannister More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

29 September 1945, Long Beach, California, USA

Birth Name

Reginald Horace Bannister

Nickname

Regman

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Musician, Actor, Screenwriter, Activist - Referred to as "The Hardest Working Man in Horror," Reggie Bannister is known world wide for his starring role as the intrepid ice cream vendor-turned hero in the action-horror series, Phantasm I-IV. His career spans over 40 years in television, film and entertainment with a background that includes writing, acting and music. His recent projects have been "Walking Distance (2009)," "Text" (2008), "Small Town Saturday Night" (2009) (with Chris Pine, John Hawkes, and Muse Watson), "Satan Hates You" (2009), and Don Cosarelli's "Bubba Ho-Tep" (2002) (with Bruce Campbell and the late Ossie Davis).

As a musician, Reggie has released six (6) musical albums which include rock, country and folk and is a veteran of stage and television since the '60s having played with such groups as Stone Country and Greenwood County Singers. He continues to write, play, compose and is currently promoting his album, "Naked Truth," and "Fool's Paradise," with promises of compiling an anthology album of earlier works. Reggie's music scored a recent short music video, "Land of the Free," after the title song, documenting disappearing park land in Long Beach, CA. Another, "Love That's Gone," which he co-wrote and co-produced protests the ongoing Yellowstone Buffalo slaughter, which continues to receive critical acclaim.

A gifted writer, Reggie has co-authored two scripts and is working on another horror piece. He is the Vice-President of an independent production company with his wife in Southern California, Production Magic, Incorporated. He is a popular guest and speaker at charity events and genre' media conventions. Other film credits include Kenny & Company, Survival Quest, Silent Night, Deadly NightIV: The Initiation, That little Monster, The Demolitionist, Wes Craven's Wishmaster, Carnies and most recently, Dark Path Chronicles. There is currently a move to film Phantasm V, in which Reggie will return to his starring role of "Reggie" in the fifth installment of the series. When asked to what he attributes the popularity of his heroic character, he states, "I think (Reggie) is seen as 'every man's man.' Not pretentious, often flawed, but with a lot of heart and guts. He does the things, and reacts the way, most men feel they would given the same situation." he added, "There's a lot of camp in scenes with Reggie. The humor comes from his being so... human."

Reggie is also credited as Assistant Director, Co-Director, Co-Producer, Associate Producer and often on the Special Effects Team with his wife, Gigi Fast Elk. Reggie resides in Southern, California, with his wife and two cats and performs music regularly at local events in his mountain community.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Gigi Fast Elk

Spouse

Gigi Fast Elk Porter	(29 September 2001 - present)
Gayle Bannister	(1988 - 1997) (divorced)
Susan	(? - ?) (divorced)

Trade Mark

His ponytail.

His role of Reggie in the Phantasm series.

Trivia

He and his current wife, Gigi Fast Elk Porter, are both vegetarians.

He was drafted into the Army in 1966, was sent to Vietnam and served overseas through 1967.

In the early days of his acting career, he used to act in a lot of student films for free as long as they would feed him.

He has appeared on every Don Coscarelli movie up to date except for The Beastmaster (1982) and _"Masters of Horror" Incident on and Off a Mountain Road (2005)_.

Following the filming of Phantasm (1979), his day job was as flower delivery for a The Sunnyside Mortuary & Cemetery during two years. The same place some scenes of Phantasm were shot.

He currently runs a production company called "Production Magic Inc" with his wife _'Gigi Fast Elk Bannister'_. Among other films, the company has collaborated in Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) and Bubba Ho-tep (2002) and music videos of Reggie's own music.

The biggest highlight in his acting career was working with Ossie Davis in Bubba Ho-tep (2002).

For most of his life, was an occasional smoker. He didn't smoke at the time of filming Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990)_, and had to play a character who was smoking constantly. He tried to convince director Brian Yuzna about his character to switch from cigarettes to eating sunflower seeds, but Yuzna didn't agree. He no longer smokes unless for a character.

He met the late "George 'Buck Flower' in the set of Wishmaster (1997) and they both became good friends until George passed away in 2004. As a homage, Reggie based his performance as "Gus" in (Acts of Death aka) The Final Curtain (2007) upon him. In Wishmaster (1997), George once asked his wife, _Gigi Fast Elk Bannister_ if he had a sense of humor. George then inserted the line "Bald headed baboon" for the shock value. It worked.

Called the "hardest working man in horror," he is a fan favorite of horror conventions. He started going to conventions after feeling that Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) (when going direct to video) needed more promoting. The release of the movie was delayed for almost a year and, after a very limited theatrical release, it went direct to video.

The strangest place where he has had autograph was on a woman's breast and another on a man's arm, who then tattooed the signature. There are several fans who inked his face in a tattoo. To date, he has never turned away an autograph or photo request.

He plays basketball, does weight training, push ups and sit ups in a daily basis to be on good shape when he plays a role in a movie.

His favorite filmmaker is Alfred Hitchcock.

He admires Quentin Tarantino and says he would love to work with him.

His favorite movies are The War of the Worlds (1953), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Vacation (1983).

He enjoys pictures that are psychologically frustrating for the observer, such as Repulsion (1965), Angel Heart (1987), Fight Club (1999) and Memento (2000).

He admits that two actors whose performances he has always admired and studied very closely are Al Pacino and Clint Eastwood. He also likes Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.

His favorite music albums are "Eagles Live", "Best of CSN", and "Best of Jimmy Hendrix".

He greatly admires Laurence Olivier and considers him one of the greatest actors ever, if not the best.

Personal Quotes

"These movies tickle something dark in people's imaginations. They deal with death -- and that's the great unanswerable question." (on the appeal of the "Phantasm" films)

I'm a product basically of the Sixties.

I'd get burned out on music and I would turn to acting. I would get burned out on acting and I'd turn to music.

Possibly, the real key to what made "Phantasm" what it became was that there were a lot of people jamming ideas, what are we gonna do here, I don't know, let's construct something, let's make something. The old "mother of invention".

This genre, horror...I've been fascinated with it ever since I was a little kid. And I've tried to figure it out. The people that I've known as fans are extremely bright, intelligent, creative... to call them strange, you'd have to be so locked into the "everyday mundane world" that you couldn't see outside it. These people aren't strange, they're different. And both on an intellectual level and on a social level, they're wonderful folks. I just love'em. Every time I go to anything, and they come up to me and talk to me, I go, jeez, this could be a friend. I like to intellectualize, I like to talk politics, I like to talk spiritualism, I like to talk about things that matter. And so do these people, and we just get along great.

I was drafted into the Army, went to Vietnam, got back, and I felt like I had been robbed of my life.

Where Are They Now

(April 2003) Moved to Crestline, California with wife, Gigi Fast Elk Porter.

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