Edmonds made his film debut in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) playing a college guy who along with Joby Baker and Bart Patton befriend Deborah Walley’s Gidget on her island vacation.  Being a real life surfer, Edmonds had nothing but disdain for the lead actors lack of surfing ability. "We only did a little bit of surfing out on the water.  The other actors were lumps and couldn't surf.  I was the only one out there with the surfing doubles.  But that movie had a lot of processed shots of James Darren, Deborah Walley, and Michael Callan standing on a box on a sound stage for the close ups.  They inter cut those shots with the shots of us actually out on the water.  Michael Callan is a great dancer but he did not take to surfing at all!" 

 

Don landed a much smaller role as a doctor in his next movie The Interns (1962) followed by minor roles in two Walt Disney features, Son of Flubber (1963) and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964).  Television offered more opportunity for the struggling actor and he landed a regular role on the sitcom Broadside (the female version of McHale’s Navy) in 1964.  But half way through the season his character was phased out because they had nothing for him to do. "I really liked working with Joan Staley.  She was neat and a very sexy girl.  Sheila James was one of the brightest people I ever met.  She graduated from one of the Ivy League schools and is now part of the Legislature in California."

 

Edmonds’ friendship with Gidget Goes Hawaiian co-star Bart Patton came in handy when Patton became a producer and hired the young actor for lead roles in Beach Ball (1965) and Wild Wild Winter (1966).  Though he worked with some heavyweight talent on Playhouse 90 in his early days in Hollywood, acting in beach movies did not diminish the work ethic Edmonds learned from them.  "When you are starting out in show business there are certain ethics you must learn.  If you worked with people who had those ethics you either picked them up or got out.  I was taught that you always show up on time and you know your lines.  You're a pro and never come in with a B-game.  If you do that you are never going to make it in this town.  No matter if it is one line of dialog or the lead, you act like a pro.  So by the time that I worked in the beach movies that ethic had been ingrained in me.  Also I was never an actor that had so many choices. I took what was there and did my best."

 

Edmonds post-Wild Wild Winter acting career trailed off with appearances on the TV series Green Acres and a return to the beach in Gidget.  "I did a few of episodes of Gidget with Sally Field.  She was only about 15 years old.  The first time I ever stepped on set with this little girl, I had the lame idea that I was just going to work with another kid star.  Well, I was never so wrong in my whole life!  The camera rolled and suddenly I was saying lines to a consummate pro.  Her eyes popped into mine and I could feel the connection, which I've only felt with very few actors I've ever worked with in my entire career.  She absolutely blew me away.  I knew right that second that she was going to be huge.  Not just because of the Gidget series but because I was working with an ultimate actor.  It was absolutely thrilling to get that feeling."

 

In the late sixties Don Edmonds stopped acting for a period of time to direct.  His first feature Wild Honey (1971) made money at the box office and the film’s success led to more behind-the-scenes work for Edmonds during the seventies in soft-core sex films.  He wrote Saddle Tramp Women (1972) starring porn actress Rene Bond, directed Southern Double Cross (1973), and wrote, produced and directed Tender Loving Care (1974) starring Donna Desmond as a nurse investigating the mysterious death of a boxer.  Edmonds most infamous movies though were the cult film favorites Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1974) and Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976) starring Dyanne Thorne as Ilsa, a sadistic Nazi warden.  These low budget violent exploitation movies are still talked about to this day and have been called everything from "sleazy," "tasteless" and "dreadful" to "amazing," "superior" and "legendary."

 

Don Edmonds returned as a triple threat producing, directing and writing the violent bounty hunter film Bare Knuckles (1978) starring Robert Viharo and Sherry Jackson.  During the eighties he was vice-president at Producers Sales Organization where he was involved in getting such big budget movies as Short Circuit (1986) and Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) produced.  More recently Edmonds worked in production on more mainstream films.  "I was one of the producers of True Romance.  Quentin Tarantino wrote it but I didn't know who he was.  He came to lunch with the director, four suits, and me.  We all introduced ourselves, shook hands, and sat down.  Quentin whispered to me, "What's your name again?"  I said, "Don Edmonds."  He said, "The Don Edmonds?"  I replied, "I'm the only one I know."  He asked, "Did you direct Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS?"  I hesitantly admitted that I did and he proceeded to list all the movies that I directed including the ones that I had forgotten about.  He just floored me!"

 

Looking back on his beach movie days a few years before he passed way, Edmonds remarked "I am not embarrassed to have worked in these films but when I see them now I groan, ‘Oh, man!’  But it was a wonderful part of my life.  I would not trade that experience for all the money in the world.  It was a terrific time and era—the tenor of the country was much different then.  Hollywood meant everything to me.  I was in the movies.  I was successful.  Those times were the best.  It was just fun.  I would wake up each morning and think ‘what’s next for me?’"