Roger Corman

Roger Corman
Roger Corman in 1978
Born
Roger William Corman

(1926-04-05)April 5, 1926
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedMay 9, 2024(2024-05-09) (aged 98)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Alma materStanford University (BS, Industrial Engineering, 1947)[1]
Occupations
  • Film director
  • producer
  • actor
Years active1954–2024
Spouse
​
(m. 1970)​
Children4
RelativesGene Corman (brother)
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Navy
Years of service1944–1946
Battles / warsWorld War II

Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer and actor.[2][3] Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.[4]

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".[5][6]

In 1964, Corman became the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque française,[7] 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.[8] In 2009, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award[9] "for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers".[10]

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,[11] Ron Howard,[12] Martin Scorsese,[13] Jonathan Demme,[14] Peter Bogdanovich,[15] Joe Dante,[16] John Sayles,[17] and James Cameron,[18][19] and was highly influential in the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s.[20][21] He also helped to launch the careers of actors like Peter Fonda,[22] Jack Nicholson,[18] Dennis Hopper,[17] Bruce Dern,[23] Diane Ladd,[24] and William Shatner.[25]

Corman occasionally acted in films by directors who started with him, including The Godfather Part II (1974),[26] The Silence of the Lambs (1991),[27] Philadelphia (1993),[28] Apollo 13 (1995),[29] and The Manchurian Candidate (2004).[30] A documentary about Corman's life and career titled Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, directed by Alex Stapleton, premiered at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals in 2011. The film's TV rights were picked up by A&E IndieFilms after a well-received screening at Sundance.[31]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference STANFORDALUMNIMAGAZINE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Roger Corman • Great Director profile • Senses of Cinema". sensesofcinema.com. December 29, 2001. Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  3. ^ "Roger Corman". Biography. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  4. ^ Leeder, Murray (2019). Roger Corman: Cinema and Media Studies. Oxford Biographies. doi:10.1093/OBO/9780199791286-0315.
  5. ^ Olsen, Eric B. "Roger Corman". History of Horror. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  6. ^ Bullock, Paul. "Tales of Terror: Roger Corman's Poe Cycle". Starburst Magazine. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  7. ^ "Roger Corman – Fast, Cheap & Under Control". The Melbourne Cinémathèque. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  8. ^ "Roger Corman". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. September 17, 2014. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  9. ^ Rafferty, Terrence (January 8, 2010). "The Oscars – Roger Corman, King of the B's, Takes His Place on the A List". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  10. ^ "Roger Corman to receive honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement". NOLA.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  11. ^ "Scorsese to De Niro: 10 Hollywood Greats Who Got Their Start with Roger Corman". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  12. ^ Gaita, Paul (December 10, 2015). "How Roger Corman Gave Ron Howard His First Big Break". Variety. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  13. ^ "Watch Martin Scorsese Talk About Roger Corman in a Scene from 'Corman's World'". IndieWire. December 15, 2011. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  14. ^ "Jonathan Demme on his transition from exploitation movies to his 'best work': 'Silence of the Lambs'". Los Angeles Times. February 10, 1991. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  15. ^ Targets (An Introduction by Peter Bogdanovich) (DVD). Los Angeles, California: Paramount Pictures. 1968.
  16. ^ The Fall of the House of Usher (Legend to Legend: Joe Dante Reflects Upon Roger Corman and the Poe Cycle) (Blu-ray Disc). Hertfordshire, UK: Arrow Video. 1960.
  17. ^ a b "Roger Corman: Scorsese, Stallone, Sayles, and other A-listers talk about the B-movie king". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  18. ^ a b Maslin, Janet (2008). "Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel (1978)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. Among the Corman associates and protegees interviewed are David Carradine, Peter Fonda, Ron Howard, Paul Bartel, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante and Peter Bogdanovich.
  19. ^ On Demme, see Charlie Rose (PBS), first aired April 29, 2017.
  20. ^ Steuer, Eric. "10 Ways B-Movie Master Roger Corman Changed Filmmaking". WIRED. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  21. ^ "Watch: How Roger Corman Gave Rise to Scorsese, Coppola, and New Hollywood". No Film School. February 15, 2017. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  22. ^ "Roger Corman, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson Take Audiences on THE TRIP". Cinapse. April 14, 2016. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  23. ^ "'The Wild Angels' Lays Out the Rules of the Biker Film". PopMatters. April 22, 2015. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  24. ^ King, Susan (December 24, 2015). "Diane Ladd sees kindred spirit in 'Joy' costar Jennifer Lawrence". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  25. ^ Sagers, Aaron (October 31, 2017). "Watch: Roger Corman on working with William Shatner on The Intruder". Syfy. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  26. ^ "Roger Corman cameo in Godfather Part II". Public Domain Library. October 4, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  27. ^ "10 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Silence Of The Lambs'". Decider. February 12, 2016. Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  28. ^ Empire. "Roger Corman". Empire. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  29. ^ "Repertoire Of Horrors: The Films Of Roger Corman". NPR. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  30. ^ Kermode, Mark (November 21, 2004). "First, drill a hole in his head..." The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 12, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  31. ^ "A&E IndieFilms Invests in Sundance Entry "Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel"". Movie City News. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2013.