Roger Corman is dead. The filmmaker died at his home in Santa Monica, California on Thursday, May 9, 2024, as Variety reports. With him one says goodbye distinctive, unique voice in the history of moving images. Corman has directed 56 films and produced 493.
Born April 5, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, Corman went by many names in Hollywood. As King of the B movies He has been revered for decades, which is primarily due to his way of working: He was known for making a lot of films in a very short time with very little money – and with a great passion for genre cinema.
Fast, cheap and groundbreaking: Roger Corman has tirelessly shaped cinema for 70 years
Whether horror, science fiction or action: Corman’s filmography contains countless genre films that were made with minimal budgets and… amazing efficiency were implemented. However, there can be no question of forgettable cheap films. Corman’s work has, in its own way, left a lasting impression on the film world.
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His Edgar Allan Poe film adaptations with Vincent Price, which take us into the depths, are particularly iconic Abyss of horror cinema kidnap and at every second the atmosphere of one uncomfortable place, for example in House of Usher (1960) or The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964).
Shoot a film in just two days and one night? That wasn’t a problem for Roger Corman. The Little Shop of Horrors, released in 1960, is the best example of this and reveals another quality of the filmmaker that cannot be overestimated: Corman was a great Supporter of young talents.
From Martin Scorsese to James Cameron: Half of Hollywood was apprenticed to Roger Corman
With his little shop full of horrors, he laid the foundation for Jack Nicholson’s career, who rose to become one of the biggest actors in Hollywood in the following years. Also well-known directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron apprenticed with Corman.
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Several Generations of filmmakers were able to gain their first experience on the set of a Corman film. Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd, for example, earned her spurs here. Cameraman Janusz Kaminski was able to hold his own as a lighting technician and gazer. And James Horner delivered one of his first scores.
Nicolas Roeg, Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich: The list is long – very, very long. Sometimes the impression arises that Corman has half Hollywood trained. Especially for the voices of New Hollywood cinema, he was an important forerunner and influence with his approach to filmmaking.
Roger Corman is not only the B-movie king, but also an icon of independent cinema
Corman still has to deal with the established studios made a wide berth. He remained one of the pioneering figures of US indie cinema until the end, financing his films with his own production companies, New World Pictures (founded in 1970) and New Concorde (founded in 1983).
Even though the films directed and produced by Corman rarely appear in lists of immortal classics, he has influenced the cinema like few other filmmakers past 70 years inspired, regardless of whether he is the pope of pop cinema or the godfather of New Hollywood cinema. In 2009 he received an honorary Oscar for his life’s work.