Editing Ed Wood (section)

==Later years==
During the last 15 years of his life, Wood depended almost entirely on writing pornography novels to earn a living, receiving between $700 to $1,000 per novel which he spent almost immediately on alcohol at the local liquor store. Friends have stated how, in his final years, he eventually stopped bathing, and that his apartment became so filthy that he eventually would not allow friends to come over and visit because he knew they would be horrified to see how unkempt it had become. Paul Marco said Wood was constantly moaning, "My God, I've given everything away. I should be a millionaire. I should have a million bucks right now!"<ref name="Rudolph Grey 1992 pp. 144">Rudolph Grey, ''Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'' (1992). pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.</ref>

Actor [[John Agar]], an alcoholic himself, was drinking at Wood's apartment one day in the late 1960s when the afternoon news program erroneously announced Agar's obituary. Wood called the studio and told them that Agar was not dead. He told them "He's alive... he's sitting right here with me now!". The story was corrected shortly thereafter.<ref name="Rudolph Grey 1992 pp. 144"/>

Ed Wood and his wife were routinely evicted from their apartments for non-payment of rent. Each time they moved, Wood would immediately establish credit with the liquor store nearest his new address. Their last apartment was in a high-crime ghetto area "at the corner of Yucca and [[Cahuenga_Boulevard|Cahuenga]]" in Hollywood inhabited by drug addicts, gamblers and prostitutes. Wood, who regularly pawned his typewriters for cash, was mugged regularly when he would stumble down the street to the liquor store. Eventually he had his publisher send his paychecks directly to the various liquor store owners so that he would not have to carry cash when he went there.

The Woods' apartment was always in danger of being burglarized. One night, a cross-dresser was beaten to death in the hallway just outside Wood's apartment door and the sound of gunshots outside the building was a nightly occurrence.<ref name="Rudolph Grey 1992 pg. 145">Rudolph Grey, ''Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'' (1992). p. 145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.</ref>

According to friends, Wood and his wife often became violent when they drank. Stories abound of the two beating each other; Wood sometimes knocked Kathy unconscious.<ref>Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1992). p. 145. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.</ref> Criswell commented once, "I always had the feeling that one would kill the other. And if you were there, the killer would say you did it!" Nonetheless, years after Wood's death, his wife always professed to love him dearly.<ref name="Rudolph Grey 1992 pg. 145"/>

Bela Lugosi biographer Robert Cremer interviewed Wood once in his Yucca apartment for his 1976 book ''Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape'' two years before Wood died. Cremer said Wood began the interview sober, but quickly became intoxicated over the next hour as the interview proceeded. Cremer said, "He started getting really angry at me because he felt he was the person who should be writing (the book)... He went out in the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of [[Wild Turkey (bourbon)|Wild Turkey]]... He smashed the bottle on the kitchen counter and then came after me with it. He lunged at me, but he was so drunk, I just pushed him against the wall, and he collapsed. I just walked out the door and said 'Okay Ed, I guess that was our last interview. I'll see you.'"<ref>Rudolph Grey, ''Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'' (1992). p. 122. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.</ref>