Edward Davis Wood, Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978), better known as Ed Wood, was an American (United States) screenwriter, director (film director), producer (film producer), actor, author, and editor (film editing), who often performed many of these functions simultaneously. In the 1950s, Wood made a run of cheap and poorly produced genre (genre fiction) films, now humorously celebrated for their technical errors, unsophisticated special effects, large amounts of ill-fitting stock footage, idiosyncratic dialogue, eccentric (Eccentricity (behavior)) casts and outlandish plot elements, although his flair for showmanship (Showmanship (performing)) gave his projects at least a modicum of critical success.

Woods popularity waned soon after his biggest "name" star, B�la Lugosi, died. He was able to salvage a saleable feature from Lugosis last moments on film, but his career declined thereafter. Toward the end of his life, Wood made pornographic movies (pornography) and wrote pulp (pulp magazine) crime, horror, and sex novels. His posthumous fame began two years after his death, when he was awarded a Golden Turkey Award (The Golden Turkey Awards) as Worst Director of All Time. The lack of conventional filmmaking ability in his work has earned Wood and his films a considerable cult following.

Following the publication of Rudolph Greys biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992), Woods life and work have undergone a public rehabilitation of sorts, with new light shed on his evident zeal (wikt:zeal) and honest love of movies and movie production. Tim Burtons biopic of the directors life, Ed Wood (Ed Wood (film)), earned two Academy Awards.