Eric Karson, the director and producer who shaped martial arts cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, died Aug. 24 of natural causes in hospice care in Henderson, Nevada. He was 86.
Karson made his feature directorial debut on The Octagon (1980), the Chuck Norris ninja-movie vehicle written by Leigh Chapman. The film cast Norris as a retired karate champion battling assassins led by his estranged foster brother, played by Tadashi Yamashita.
At Imperial Entertainment, Karson directed Jean-Claude Van Damme in Black Eagle (1988) and produced Lionheart (1990), directed by Sheldon Lettich. In Lionheart, Van Damme played Lyon Gaultier, a French Foreign Legion deserter turned street fighter. The role established Van Damme as a leading man in the U.S. market.
Karson directed Olivier Gruner in Angel Town (1990), the actor's first film, and produced Nemesis (1992), his second. Gruner considered Karson a mentor. Karson also directed the action film Opposing Force (1986), starring Lisa Eichhorn and Tom Skerritt, and appeared onscreen as a CIA chief in Black Eagle and as a doctor in Lionheart.
The son of TV writer Lee Karson, who created the 1956-59 CBS-ABC program The Gale Storm Show, Eric Karson was born March 5, 1940, in Phoenix. His mother, Mary, was a theater actress. The family moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s and lived next door to John Wayne on Highland Avenue in Hancock Park. Karson started as an actor, graduated from Cal State Northridge, and began his directing career on commercials and documentaries in Australia before returning to Los Angeles.
Survivors include his wife of two decades, Tara; his siblings Gil, a musician and film editor, Lisa, and Michael; his nieces Sylvia, Jackie Lee, and Jen Karson-Strauss, an Emmy-winning director and producer at ESPN; and his nephew Josh.