The world of cinema has lost a true legend with the passing of Roger Corman at the age of 98. Known as the "King of B-movies," Corman was a prolific filmmaker who made his mark on Hollywood with his low-budget, high-concept films that often featured unknown actors and outlandish plots.
Corman's influence on the film industry cannot be overstated. He launched the careers of many A-list actors and directors, including Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, and James Cameron. His ability to churn out entertaining films on a shoestring budget made him a beloved figure among fans of cult cinema.
Over the course of his half-century long career, Roger Corman filled America's drive-ins with hundreds of low-budget movies. They had titles like Sharktopus, Teenage Doll and The Terror. The trailers — and titles — were often better than the movies themselves.
But Corman was also a major figure in American independent film. The directors and actors who worked with him at the beginnings of their careers are a veritable who's who: Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Francis Ford Coppola.
Corman died Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California, according to a statement released Saturday by his wife and daughters. "He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him," the statement said. "When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, 'I was a filmmaker, just that.'" He was 98.
When Corman was awarded an Oscar at the AMPAS’ first Governors Awards ceremony in November 2009, Ron Howard saluted him for hiring women in key exec and creative jobs, as well as for giving them big roles, and Walter Moseley was quoted as saying Corman offered “one of the few open doors,” looking beyond age, race and gender.
Corman cut his own directorial career short by retiring in 1971. He returned to the director’s chair for 1990 horror film Frankenstein Unbound, though predominantly operated as a producer. He also occasionally appeared in acting roles, often for directors who he had mentored. He appeared as a senator at hearing in Coppola’s The Godfather Part II, and an FBI director in Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps most fittingly, he appeared in a self-referential role in Scream 3 as a studio executive for Stab 3, a film-within-a-film clearly nodding to the low-budget shockers that had long been Corman’s stock in trade.
Despite his enormous standing in the industry, Corman was self-effacing about the films he made, recognising their cheap and cheerful status. “I don’t know if I would say I’m an artist,” he said in an interview with the Guardian’s Xan Brooks in 2011. “I would say that I’m a craftsman. I attempt to ply my trade in the best possible way. If occasionally something transcends the craft, then that’s wonderful. It doesn’t happen very often.”
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