Roger Corman, Hollywood’s “King of the Bs,” has died. He was 98. Corman produced such low-budget classics as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters” and gave many of Hollywood’s most famous actors and directors their first breaks.
Roger Corman , the Oscar-winning “King of the Bs” who helped turn out such low-budget classics as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters” and gave many of Hollywood ’s most famous actors and directors early breaks, has died. He was 98.
Starting in 1955, Corman helped create hundreds of films as a producer and director, among them “Black Scorpion,” “Bucket of Blood” and “Bloody Mama.” A remarkable judge of talent, he hired such aspiring filmmakers as Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, James Cameron and Martin Scorsese. In 2009, Corman received an honorary Academy Award.
The roots of Hollywood’s golden age in the 1970s can be found in Corman’s films. Jack Nicholson made his film debut as the title character in a 1958 Corman quickie, “The Cry Baby Killer,” and stayed with the company for biker, horror and action films, writing and producing some of them. Other actors whose careers began in Corman movies included Robert De Niro, Bruce Dern and Ellen Burstyn.
Meanwhile, he discovered a lucrative sideline releasing prestige foreign films in the United States, among them Ingmar Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers,” Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord” and Volker Schlondorff’s “The Tin Drum.” The latter two won Oscars for best foreign language film. Some of his former underlings repaid his kindness years later. Coppola cast him in “The Godfather, Part II,” Jonathan Demme included him in “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia” and Howard gave him a part in “Apollo 13.”
Near the end of his life, Karloff starred in another Corman-backed effort, the 1968 thriller “Targets,” which marked Peter Bogdanovich’s directorial debut.
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