Howard Alk

Howard Alk (1930 – January 1982) was a Chicago-based filmmaker.

Career

Howard Alk enrolled in the University of Chicago at the age of 14. He was a member of the Compass Players cabaret troupe and one of the founders (along with fellow U of C graduates Bernard Sahlins and Paul Sills) of The Second City. Alk had previously worked with Sills at the Gate of Horn. According to Sahlins, Alk coined the group's name. He left the group in the early 1960s.

Alk was associated with The Film Group, a Chicago film production company, where he shot and edited several of the group's films including American Revolution 2 (1969) and The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971).

Alk was a longtime friend and collaborator of Bob Dylan, whom he met in 1963. The two worked together on the films Eat the Document, Hard Rain, and Renaldo and Clara.

He also worked on Janis, Festival, Luxman Baul's Movie and other films.

Death

Alk was a heroin addict.

In January 1982, Alk was found dead at Rundown Studios, Dylan's studio in Santa Monica, California. Although the coroner ruled his death to be due to an accidental heroin overdose, various sources report his death to be a suicide. Alk's first wife, Jones, and his second wife Joan, both believed he intentionally killed himself. But no evidence either way has ever been found.