He died on Thursday at the age of 98 in his home in Santa Monica, California, as his family confirmed to the industry publication “Variety”, among others. His films were “revolutionary”, embodied the spirit of an entire era and changed the film industry, Variety quoted the family’s statement on Sunday night.
Hollywood’s trash master
The master of trash and horror films was unstoppable until old age. At the age of 90, Roger Corman was hired as a producer for the action film “Death Race 2050”.
Since the 1950s, the “king of cheap films” has directed and produced over 400 films for screen and television, including cult classics such as “The Last Seven”, “The Cursed”, “Little Shop of Horrors” and “The Wild Angels”.
Corman was known as an extremely economical filmmaker who made quick shots on a small budget. For his first film, “Monster From The Ocean Floor” (1954), he scraped together money from friends – and promptly got twice as much. The independent filmmaker usually kept his distance from the big Hollywood studios.
“I made a few films for the big studios and that was okay,” he told the German Press Agency in 2011 on the sidelines of the Munich Film Festival. “The problem is that so many people want to have a say when it comes to big money. And since I’m completely anti-authoritarian, that wasn’t my thing. When I make my own films, I can make my own decisions. And there “I don’t have that much money, so I make cheap films.”
“Little Shop of Horrors” was shot in just 2 days
He shot the horror film “Little Shop of Horrors” in just two days and one night in 1960 – with the then completely unknown young actor Jack Nicholson. Back then, he went to acting school himself to learn something about actors as a director. “And that’s when I first met Jack in class. He was by far the most talented actor in the class,” said Corman, who gave Nicholson his first role.
- Trailer for “Little Shop of Horrors (1960)”:
- Scene with Jack Nicholson:
Many later cinema greats trained under Corman, including Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich and actors such as Bruce Dern and Peter Fonda.
A quiet retirement was out of the question for Corman. Shortly before his 90th birthday, he was enthusiastic about a new project as producer of the remake of “Death Race 2000”. He was looking forward to “spectacular vehicles and action that will make you laugh, in the truest sense of the word,” Corman told the Hollywood Reporter in February 2016. In 1975 he brought the original to the cinema with David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone (German title: “Frankenstein’s Death Race”) as producers.
Honorary Oscar for his life’s work
He rarely won film awards, but in the end the Oscar Academy also recognized his achievements. In 2009, Corman was honored with an honorary Oscar for his life’s work. Two years later, his own life made it to the screen. In the documentary “Corman’s World” (German title: UFOs, Sex and Monsters – The Wild Cinema of Roger Corman), prominent fans such as Robert De Niro and Ron Howard pay tribute to his achievements. Now Hollywood is mourning the film legend.
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Source: Nachrichten
