ROGER CORMAN

'Roger William Corman' (born April 5 1926), sometimes nicknamed "King of the Bs" for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this appellation as inaccurate), is a prolific American producer and director of low-budget exploitation movies. He has apprenticed many now-famous directors, stressing the importance of budgeting and resourcefulness; Corman once joked he could make a film about the fall of the Roman Empire with two extras and a sage bush.[1]

Contents
Biography
Early life
Career
"The Corman Film School"
Directors
Allegations
Filmography
References
External links

Biography


Early life

Corman was born in Detroit, Michigan to Anne and William Corman, an engineer.[2] He received an industrial engineering degree from Stanford University. He began his career in 1953 as a producer and screenwriter, and began directing in 1955.
Career

Until his so-called "retirement" as a director in 1971 (he continued to produce films even after this date) he would produce up to seven movies a year; his fastest film was perhaps ''The Little Shop of Horrors'' (1960), which was reputedly shot in two days and one night (supposedly, he had made a bet that he could shoot an entire feature film in less than three days; another version of the story claims that he had a set rented for a month, and finished using it with three days to spare, thus pushing him to use the set to make a new film). This claim is disputed by others who worked on the film, who have called it part of Corman's own myth-building. Quite a number of his films, such as ''Last Woman on Earth'' (1960), contain elements of science fiction.
Corman is probably best known for his filmings of various Edgar Allan Poe stories at American International Pictures, mostly in collaboration with Richard Matheson as screenplay writer including ''House of Usher'' (1960), ''The Pit and the Pendulum'' (1961), ''The Premature Burial'' (1962), ''Tales of Terror'' (1962) ''The Raven'' (1963), ''The Masque of the Red Death'' (1964), and ''The Tomb of Ligeia'' (1964). All but ''Premature Burial'' starred Vincent Price. After the film version of the Raven was completed, he reportedly realized he still had some shooting days left before the sets were torn down and so made another film, ''The Terror'' (1963) on the spot with the remaining cast, crew and sets.
He also directed one of William Shatner's early films, ''The Intruder'' (1962). Based on a novel by Charles Beaumont, the film, made for approximately USD$80,000, has become famous for its treatment of segregation and civil rights. He has produced over 300 movies and directed over 50.
Corman did return to the director's chair once after 1971 with ''Frankenstein Unbound'' (1990), although this was poorly received.
A number of noted film directors have worked with Corman, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Donald G. Jackson, Gale Ann Hurd, Carl Colpaert, Joe Dante, James Cameron, and John Sayles. Many have said that Corman's influence taught them some of the ins and outs of filmmaking. In the extras for the DVD of ''The Terminator'', director James Cameron refers to his work for Corman as, "I trained at the Roger Corman Film School." The British director Nicolas Roeg served as the cinematographer on ''The Masque of the Red Death''. Actors who obtained their career breaks working for Corman include Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Michael McDonald, Dennis Hopper, Talia Shire, and Robert De Niro.
Many of Corman's proteges have rewarded him with cameos in their works. Hence he had cameo performances in such acclaimed flms as The Godfather Part II and ''The Silence of the Lambs''.
His autobiography, titled ''How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime'' (ISBN 0-306-80874-9), documents his experiences in the film industry.
Corman was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2005 New York City Horror Film Festival. Corman was the fourth recipient, joining George A. Romero, Tom Savini and Tobe Hooper who had previously received the award.
"The Corman Film School"

A number of important and influential filmmakers and actors had their first big break with Roger Corman. The following list is limited to Oscar winners.
Directors


Francis Ford Coppola — directed Corman's ''Dementia 13''. Oscar winner for ''The Godfather Part II''

James Cameron — directed Corman's ''. Oscar winner for ''Titanic''

Jonathan Demme — wrote and directed Corman's ''Caged Heat'' (aka ''Renegade Girls''). Oscar winner for ''The Silence of the Lambs''

Ron Howard — directed Corman's ''Grand Theft Auto''. Oscar winner for ''A Beautiful Mind''

Martin Scorsese — directed Corman's ''Boxcar Bertha''. Oscar winner for ''The Departed''
Other major directors from the Corman school have included Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante, Jonathan Kaplan, and John Sayles.

Allegations


In 1954 Corman was arrested and warned as of being caught in possession of Cocaine, as of this he faced imprisonment, however he instead faced a fine of $3000. Since then he has never been involved with drugs.
Another Allegation of Roger Corman was when he punched his wife in 1969 and told a controversal lie that it was an accident. Due to this he was given 40 hours community service.

Filmography


Main articles: List of Roger Corman films

# ''Swamp Women (1955)
# ''It Conquered the World (1956)
# ''Not of This Earth (1957)
# ''Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
# ''The Undead (1957)
# ''A Bucket of Blood (1959)
# ''The Wasp Woman'' (1959)
# ''House of Usher (1960)
# ''The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
# ''The Last Woman on Earth (1960)
# ''Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
# ''The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
# ''The Intruder (1962)
# ''Tales of Terror (1962)
# ''The Raven (1963)
# ''The Terror (1963)
# ''X (1963) (also known as ''X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes'')
# ''The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
# ''The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
# ''The Wild Angels (1966)
# ''The Trip (1967)
# ''Bloody Mama (1970)
# ''Gas-s-s-s (1971)
# ''Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)
# ''Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

References


1. http://uashome.alaska.edu/~jndfg20/website/raven.htm
2. http://www.filmreference.com/film/28/Roger-Corman.html

External links



Roger Corman bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

The Number One Rogercorman Fansite with Interviews And Videos



Roger Corman at Senses of Cinema

Download: ''Creatures From The Haunted Sea'' from Archive.org

Download: ''She Gods Of Shark Reef'' from Archive.org

Roger Corman 1974 Interview

MySpace page of Roger Corman

New Horizons company website

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