- Built the underwater sets for James Cameron's Oscar-winning "The Abyss" at an abandoned nuclear power plant.
- Joined the U.S. Marines after seeing John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
- Was friends with Elvis Presley . Even named his son, actor Elvis Owensby after the late "King of Rock & Roll."
- Although not noted for making comedies, Owensby helped launch the film careers of comics Chris Elliott and Paula Poundstone when he cast them in_Hyperspace (1984)_.
- Has 2 sons: Elvis and Rhet.
- Studio/house in Shelby, North Carolina. Small town.
- Was hospitalized with a brain injury in 2001 following an accident at his home.
- Often affectionately referred to as "the redneck Roger Corman."
- Built the underwater sets for the Oscar-winning James Cameron film The Abyss (1989) at an abandoned nuclear power plant.
- Made a strange (albeit highly fictionalized) 'Elvis tribute film' called _Living Legend: The King of Rock & Roll (1980)_, less than three years after Presley's death. It co-starred actress Ginger Alden , who was Elvis' fiancee at the time of his death.
- His studio is still in Shelby, North Carolina. (August 2004)
- Dubbed "Dixie DeMille" by G.Q. Magazine.
- Once rejected a script from a ten-year-old named R.J. O'Sullivan, who went on to write for film and television.
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