Watch the credits. Takes notes. Get to know them. Many have faces you're already familiar with. Supporting players and figures behind the camera, these are just a few of the folks who brought life to the genre films you know and love.

1. Morris Ankrum
Oh, you've seen Morris Ankrum. He brought his stately presence to a fistful of the most fondly recalled sci-fi classics of the 1950s. In a host of roles as the unflappable authority figure (general, colonel, major, mayor) leading his people in staunching an alien assault, Ankrum brought a flinty reliability to the B-movie landscape.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Giant From the Unknown, Beginning of the End, The Giant Claw, Kronos, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Invaders From Mars, Red Planet Mars, Flight to Mars, Rocketship X-M

2. Les Baxter
He was the musical maven that brought a genuine spark of culture to many of the classic AIP thrillers -- most eloquently in the Roger Corman-Edgar Allan Poe productions. Admirable for peppering his scores with unmistakable jazz inflections, he also ignited the 1950's "tiki" craze by composing the freak hit Quiet Village for Martin Denny.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Black Sabbath, X-The Man With the X-Ray Eyes, Master of the World, The Pit and the Pendulum, Panic in Year Zero, The Raven, House of Usher, The Black Sleep, Macabre

3. Russ Bender
Another familiar authoritarian, Bender ran the gamut of exploitation cinema. His wry delivery and deprecating demeanor lent real humanity to roles as diverse as the reporter, the professor, the general, the cop, or just the guy next door. Bender was also responsible for the screenplay of producer Alex Gordon's Voodoo Woman.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Panic in Year Zero, Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, Hot Rod Gang, I Bury the Living, War of the Colossal Beast, The Amazing Colossal Man, Dragstrip Girl, Invasion of the Saucer Men, It Conquered the World, War of the Worlds

4. Paul Birch
Poised and portly Paul Birch had more screen presence than any 10 modern-day character actors. It was his sonorous voice, a musical baritone by turns menacing and reassuring, that set him apart. Had he appeared in only Not of This Earth, we'd remember him. The story goes that he actually took a punch at Roger Corman.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Queen of Outer Space, The 27th Day, Not of This Earth, Day the World Ended, Beast With a Million Eyes, War of the Worlds

5. Larry Blake
Talk about all over the map -- genre films were barely the tip of this acting iceberg. Blake was easily one of the hardest-working character actors in Hollywood -- and one of the most versatile, popping up in everything from High Noon to That Darn Cat! Familiar to keen-eyed character watchers as a cop, reporter or soldier, his career spanned more than four decades.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Beginning of the End, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Werewolf, Creature With the Atom Brain, Teenage Crime Wave, Rumble on the Docks

6. Marla English
We've written about Marla on many occasions, so the B-Monster faithful are certainly familiar with her. Most don't realize that she appeared in barely a dozen films -- including bit parts -- and didn't want an acting career at all. Though AIP honchos Arkoff and Nicholson were hot to sign her to a multi-picture deal, she desired only obscurity -- and unfortunately got it.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
The She Creature, Voodoo Woman, Flesh and the Spur, Runaway Daughters, A Strange Adventure, Shield For Murder

7. Sally Fraser
Equally obscure to moviegoers at large -- but no less charming -- is Sally Fraser. Typically cast as the hero's girlfriend, wife or sister, her sweet demeanor was seen to good advantage in a handful of the drive-in era's more memorable shockers.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
The Spider aka Earth vs. the Spider, Giant From the Unknown, War of the Colossal Beast, It Conquered the World, Outlaw's Son

8. Richard Gordon
Brother to seminal B-movie figure Alex Gordon, Richard is responsible for the production of more than his share of genre-film classics. He was the driving force behind a batch of British-based horrors -- each possessed of an unsettling ambience -- that hold up admirably four decades later.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Island of Terror, Devil Doll, The Haunted Strangler, First Man Into Space, Fiend Without a Face

9. Don Megowan
He might well be called the "forgotten Creature," having portrayed the Gill Man in the series' often castigated entry The Creature Walks Among Us. But there was more to Megowan's career; a mainstay of TV westerns (Gunsmoke, Cheyenne, Wagon Train), he's also recognized as Col. Travis in Disney's Davy Crockett series as well as the burly sheriff in The Werewolf.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, Creation of the Humanoids, A Lust to Kill, The Creature Walks Among Us, The Werewolf

10. Sam Sherman
Producer Sam Sherman, at the helm of his Independent International pictures, helped to keep exploitation cinema alive for horror-hungry fans throughout the 1970s. The titles of his films alone earn him an august station in the cult-film pantheon. Dracula vs. Frankenstein had at least seven alternate monikers (My personal favorite is Satan's Bloody Freaks).

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Blood of Ghastly Horror, Brain of Blood, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Five Bloody Graves, Hell's Bloody Devils, Satan's Sadists