ALBERT E. MARTEN

Born in New York City in 1921, Albert Marten served in the U.S. Army during the Second World War, retiring as a Captain in the Army Reserves in Intelligence. Coming out of the military, he earned three degrees within three years – his undergraduate degree from City College of New York, a Master’s in Social Psychology from Columbia University, and a law degree from New York Law. As the student body President of the united colleges of Columbia University, he was active in New York City politics as a leader of the Fair Deal Democrats, becoming chairman of the speaker’s bureau for Franklin Roosevelt, Jr.’s congressional campaign and escorting Eleanor Roosevelt to rallies.

From the beginning of his career in 1949, Albert Marten became a prominent theatrical and entertainment attorney, representing numerous clients, including movie star Errol Flynn, author Harold Robbins, Oscar-winning director Herb Klein, producer Edward R. Pressman, and Allied Artists Distribution Company. A pioneer of the post-WWII film industry, he evolved the concept of motion picture completion bonding in the United States, and during the Cold War imported Eastern European animation and was instrumental in bringing film production to the fledgling Cuban movie industry. He arranged financing for over 150 feature films (such as Panic Button starring Maurice Chevalier, Jayne Mansfield, Mike Connors, Eleanor Parker, and Akim Tamiroff), television series (“Wild Bill Hickok” starring Guy Madison and Andy Devine), and Broadway productions (such as Peter Ustinov’s Love of Four Colonels).

However, Albert Marten’s fondest credit was having arranged the sale and distribution of Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space, a film once voted the “Worst Film of All Time” which has since become a cult classic.

Moving to Virginia in the early 1980s, he was a catalyst for the emerging Virginia film industry as founder and chairman of Atlantic Film Studios in Suffolk, Virginia’s first full service motion picture production facility, which was inaugurated in 1988 by then-Governor Gerald L. Baliles.

Continuing the family legacy, Albert Marten’s four sons are involved in various aspects of the entertainment industry: Jonathan is an actor/writer/producer; Seth is an actor/writer; Ethan is an actor and producer. And Richard Marten, an attorney who is also a producer and writer, is President of Wave4M Studios.