Roger Corman
Detroit, Michigan, USA
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Biography
Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", “The King of The B’s”, "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of the more than 500 features directed or produced by Corman were low-budget films that later attracted a cult following, such as The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Intruder (1962), X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963), and the counterculture films, The Wild Angels (1966) and The Trip (1967). House of Usher (1960) became the first of eight films directed by Corman that were adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and which collectively came to be known as the "Poe Cycle". In 1964, Corman became the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque française, as well as in the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art. He was the co-founder of New World Pictures, the founder of New Concorde and was a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2009, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award "for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers". Corman was also famous for handling the U.S. distribution of many films by noted foreign directors, including Federico Fellini (Italy), Ingmar Bergman (Sweden), François Truffaut (France) and Akira Kurosawa (Japan). He mentored and gave a start to many young film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante, John Sayles, and James Cameron, and was highly influential in the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He also helped to launch the careers of actors like Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, and William Shatner.
Movie Credits
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies
Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie
Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four
It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures
Bloody And Groovy Baby! A Tribute to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2
Influence And Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute
Tales from the Lumber Yard: The Making of Galaxy of Terror
Monster Madness: Mutants, Space Invaders, and Drive-Ins
Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective
It Was a Colossal Teenage Movie Machine: The AIP Story
Inside the Labyrinth: The Making of 'The Silence of the Lambs'
Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man
Sleepless Nights: Revisiting the Slumber Party Massacres
Tv Credits
The Last Drive-In Live: A Tribute to Roger Corman
CULT-TASTIC: Tales From The Trenches With Roger And Julie Corman
