Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Low-budget film maestro Roger Corman died on Thursday at the age of 98, his family said.
Coleman, a producer and director known as the “King of B-Movies,” was at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., his wife and daughter posted on his Instagram account Saturday night. died, but the cause of death was not disclosed.
“It is with deep sadness and infinite gratitude for his extraordinary life that we remember our beloved husband and father Roger Corman,” his wife Julie and daughters Catherine and Mary said in the post.
“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, capturing the spirit of an era,” they wrote.
In November 2009, Corman received an honorary lifetime Oscar for his “rich contributions to cinema and filmmakers”.
“Roger, for everything you’ve done for movies, the Academy thanks you, Hollywood thanks you, independent filmmaking thanks you,” Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino told Corman at the Oscars. “But, most importantly, thank you to the movie lovers on the planet for all the weird, cool, crazy moments you brought to life on screen.”
Corman’s work – he made more than 300 films and directed about 50 – is full of weird, cool and crazy moments. The films were made quickly and cheaply, with only a few losing money.
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They cover genres including science fiction, horror, biker movies, rebellious teen movies, Edgar Allan Poe stories, and more. Their titles were not exactly subtle – Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), The Legend of Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Sea Serpent (1957), Brain-Eating (1958), “Teenage Caveman” (1958), “A Bucket of Blood” (1959), “The Creature from the Sea” (1961), “Bloody Mama” (1970), “Gas-sss” ( 1970), Galaxy of Terror (1981) and Piranha (2012).
At 90 years old, he’s still prolific, making films like “Cobragator” and “Death Race 2050.”
“I believe that to be successful in the long run, unless you are Federico Fellini or Ingmar Bergman or a true filmmaking genius, you have to understand that you are both Doing art and doing business,” Koeman told a pop culture website in 2010.
He provided early career breaks to future stars, including Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock, Talia Shire, William Shatner, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.
But he is best known for training directors. A frugal producer, Corman hired promising young filmmakers who could work on a shoestring budget to launch their careers.
Before Raging Bull, Scorsese directed Corman’s Bertha (1972). Before filming “The Godfather,” Coppola directed “Dementia 13” (1963) for Corman. Jonathan Demme, best known for “The Silence of the Lambs,” directed Corman’s “Battlefield” (1976). Howard directed “Grand Theft Auto” (1977) for Corman before directing “A Beautiful Mind.” All four won Academy Awards for Best Director.
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Additionally, Peter Bogdanovich directed Corman’s Journey to the Planet (1968) before making The Last Picture Show, and Cameron served as Corman’s director before Titanic. Art Director of Star Wars (1980).
Sometimes, his protégés thanked Corman by giving him guest roles, such as the FBI director in “Silence of the Lambs” and a congressman in “Apollo 13.”
‘I promise you’
At Corman’s 2009 Oscars, Howard recalled fondly that he was offered the opportunity to make his directorial debut with “The Grand Theft Auto,” when he was considered a lightweight as a TV sitcom actor. Howard said he complained to Koeman about not being given enough resources.
Howard said that instead of forking out more money, Koeman told him: “I promise you: if you continue to take this picture of me, you will never have to work for me again.”
No one would argue that the films Corman made were subtle or nuanced. Many are downright shoddy, filled with crazy effects, bizarre plots, exposed breasts, ridiculous monsters, or women in prison. But some have artistic value.
He directed Little Shop of Horrors (1960), which was shot in just two days and one night. It features a young Nicholson, who impressed Corman in acting class, and a nasty novel about a lonely florist who creates a carnivorous plant hungry for human flesh. plot.
He also made several horror films in the 1960s starring Vincent Price that were inspired by Poe’s stories, including House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum ( 1961) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964)).
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Corman stopped directing in 1971 to focus on producing. He directed another film, 1990’s Frankenstein.
Unlike his signature low-budget films, Corman also branched out into international art-house films, working with legendary directors Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut and more U.S. distributor of the film.
Koeman was born on April 5, 1926 in Detroit. He graduated from Stanford University in 1947 with an engineering degree, but quit his first engineering job three days later to find a job as a messenger at the 20th Century Fox film studio.
After a detour at Oxford University to study modern English literature, he returned to the United States intent on making his mark on the film industry. The title of Corman’s 1990 autobiography reveals his guiding philosophy: “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime.”
