In Summary
- His family told industry publication variety that he died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California.
- Corman began directing in 1955 with Swamp Women and over the next 15 years he made more than 50 films.
- In 2009 he received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
His family told industry publication Variety that he died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California.
Roger Corman was born in Detroit on 5 April 1926. His father, William, was an engineer and he had intended to follow in his footsteps.
However, while studying at college, he became attracted to film-making and after a spell working for General Motors quit his job and went to work at 20th Century Fox as a messenger boy.
Having failed to make much progress, he set off for Europe where among other things, he briefly studied English literature at Oxford. He returned to the US with ambitions to become a screenwriter.
He sold his first script, The House in the Sea, in 1953 and it was filmed as Highway Dragnet the following year with Corman being credited as co-producer.
READ Also:New ‘Dracula’ Movie Taps Luc Besson as Director
However, he was so upset by the changes made to his story that he scraped together some cash and set himself up as a producer.
Roger Corman Directs his First Series of Cult Films.
Corman began directing in 1955 with Swamp Women and over the next 15 years he made more than 50 films, gaining a reputation for the speed with which he could turn them out.
Many of his films have taken on cult status and few directors have been so successful at making popular pictures on such tight budgets.
When asked how Corman would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that,'” the family said in their statement.
READ Also:Jackie Matubia Produces a Kenyan Series on her YouTube channel
In 2009 he received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement and continued to work well into his eighties, producing the 2010 films Dinoshark and Sharktopus for the Syfy TV channel.
