CORMAN, Roger 1926–
(Henry Neill)

PERSONAL

Full name, Roger William Corman; born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, MI; son of William (an engineer) and Anne Corman; brother of Gene Corman (a producer); married Julie Ann Halloran (a film producer), December 26, 1969 (some sources cite 1970); children: Catherine Ann, Roger Martin, Brian William, Mary Tessa. Education: Stanford University, B.S., industrial engineering, 1947; graduate study at Oxford University, 1950.

Addresses: Office— Concorde/New Horizons, 11600 San Vincente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Career: Producer, director, film executive, actor, and screenwriter. Twentieth Century–Fox, Hollywood, CA, messenger, 1948, script reader, 1948–49; literary agent, 1951–52; New World Pictures, founder, 1970, president, 1970–83; Concorde/New Horizons Corp. (film production and distribution company), Los Angeles, CA, founder, 1983, president, 1983—. Roger Corman Productions, founder and president; Filmgroup, founder and president; Wometco Theatres, chairperson of board of directors. Horror Hall of Fame, member of board of directors, 1991. Also worked as a television stagehand. Military service: U.S. Navy, 1944.

Member: Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America.

Awards, Honors: Golden Lion Award nomination, Venice Film Festival, 1966; Life Career Award, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, 1988; Career Achievement Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, 1996; Lifetime Achievement Award, Raindance Film Festival, 1996; Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, American Cinema Editors, 1997; Lifetime Achievement Award, Casting Society of America, 1997; Lifetime Achievement Award, Florida Film Festival, 1997; honorary D.F.A., American Film Institute, 1998; Producer of the Century Award, Cannes Film Festival, 1998; Time–Machine Honorary Award, Catalonian International Film Festival, 1998; Independent Filmmaker Award, Malibu Film Festival, 1999; Lifetime Achievement Award, American Film Market, 2001; Independent Spirit Award, Empire Award, 2004; Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

CREDITS

Film Work:

Coproducer, Highway Dragnet, Allied Artists, 1954.

Producer, The Fast and the Furious, American Releasing, 1954.

Producer, The Monster from the Ocean Floor (also known as It Stalked the Monster Floor, It Stalked the Ocean Floor, and Monster Maker ), Lippert, 1954.

Executive producer and director, The Beast with a Million Eyes (also known as The Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes ), American Releasing, 1955.

Producer and director, Apache Woman, Associated Releasing, 1955.

Producer and director, Five Guns West, American Releasing, 1955.

Producer and director, Swamp Women (also known as Swamp Diamonds and Cruel Swamp ), Favorite Films of California, 1955.

Producer and director, The Day the World Ended, American International Pictures, 1956.

Producer and director, Gunslinger (also known as The Yellow Rose of Texas ), Associated Releasing, 1956.

Producer and director, It Conquered the World (also known as It Conquered the Earth ), American International Pictures, 1956.

Producer and director, The Oklahoma Woman, American Releasing, 1956.

Producer and director, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Allied Artists, 1957.

Producer and director, Carnival Rock, Howco, 1957.

Producer and director, Naked Paradise (also known as Thunder over Hawaii ), American International Pictures, 1957.

Producer and director, Not of This Earth, Allied Artists, 1957.

Producer and director, Rock All Night, American International Pictures, 1957.

Producer and director, Sorority Girl (also known as The Bad One, Sorority House, and Confessions of a Sorority Girl ), American International Pictures, 1957.

Producer and director, Teenage Doll (also known as The Young Rebels ), Allied Artists, 1957.

Producer and director, The Undead, American International Pictures, 1957.

Producer and director, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (also known as The Saga of the Viking, Undersea Monster, Viking Women, and The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent ), American International Pictures, 1958.

Producer and director, Machine Gun Kelly, American International Pictures, 1958.

Producer and director, She–Gods of Shark Reef (also known as Shark Reef ), American International Pictures, 1958.

Producer and director, Teenage Caveman (also known as Out of the Darkness and Prehistoric World ), American International Pictures, 1958.

Producer (with Jack Rabin and Irving Block) and director, War of the Satellites, Allied Artists, 1958.

Executive producer, Stake Out on Dope Street, Warner Bros., 1958.

Executive producer, The Cry Baby Killer, Allied Artists, 1958.

Executive producer, Hot Car Girl, Allied Artists, 1958.

Executive producer, Night of the Blood Beast (also known as The Creature from Galaxy 27 and The Monster from Galaxy 27 ), American International Pictures, 1958.

Executive producer, The Brain Eaters (also known as The Brain Snatcher, Keeper, and Keepers of the Earth ), American International Pictures, 1958.

Executive producer, Paratroop Command, American International Pictures, 1958.

Executive producer, The Wild Ride, Filmgroup, 1958.

Producer and director, A Bucket of Blood, American International Pictures, 1959.

(With Edward L. Alperson and brother, Gene Corman) Producer and director, I, Mobster (also known as The Mobster and I Mobster… The Life of a Gangster ), Twentieth Century–Fox, 1959.

Producer, T–Bird Gang (also known as The Pay–Off ), Filmgroup, 1959.

Executive producer, Crime and Punishment U.S.A., Allied Artists, 1959.

Executive producer, High School Big Shot (also known as The Young Sinners ), Filmgroup, 1959.

Executive producer, Attack of the Giant Leeches (also known as Attack of the Blood Leeches, Demons of the Swamp, The Giant Leeches, and She Demons of the Swamp ), American International Pictures, 1960.

Producer and director, The Wasp Woman (also known as The Bee Girl and Insect Woman ), Allied Artists, 1960.

Producer and director, Atlas, Filmgroup, 1960.

Producer and director, The House of Usher (also known as The Fall of the House of Usher ), American International Pictures, 1960.

Producer and director, The Last Woman on Earth, Film-group, 1960.

Producer and director, Ski Troop Attack, Filmgroup, 1960.

Executive producer, Beasts from the Haunted Cave, Filmgroup, 1960.

Executive producer, Battle of Blood Island, Filmgroup, 1960.

Producer and director, Creature from the Haunted Sea, Filmgroup, 1961.

Producer and director, The Little Shop of Horrors, Film-group, 1961.

Producer and director, The Pit and the Pendulum (also known as Pit and the Pendulum ), American International Pictures, 1961.

Executive producer, Night Tide, American International Pictures, 1961.

Executive producer, The Mermaids of Tiburon (also known as The Aqua Sex ), Filmgroup, 1961.

Producer and director, The Intruder (also known as I Hate Your Guts, Shame, and The Stranger ), Pathe–America, 1961.

Producer and director, The Premature Burial, American International Pictures, 1962.

Producer and director, Tower of London, United Artists, 1962.

Producer of American version, Battle beyond the Sun (also known as Nebo zovyot, The Heavens Call, The Sky Calls, and The Sky Is Calling ), American International Pictures, 1962.

Producer and director, Tales of Terror (also known as Poe's Tales of Terror and Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Terror ), American International Pictures, 1962.

Producer and director, The Haunted Palace (also known as The Haunted Village and Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace ), American International Pictures, 1963.

Producer and director, "X "—The Man with the X–Ray Eyes (also known as The Man with the X–Ray Eyes and X ), American International Pictures, 1963.

(With Charles Hannawalt and R. Wright Campbell) Producer, Dementia 13 (also known as The Haunted and the Hunted ), American International Pictures, 1963.

Producer and director, The Raven, American International Pictures, 1963.

Producer and director, The Terror (also known as The Castle of Terror, The Haunting, and Lady of the Shadows ), American International Pictures, 1963.

Producer and director, The Young Racers, American International Pictures, 1963.

(Uncredited) Coproducer, Operacija Ticijan, 1963.

Producer and director, The Masque of the Red Death, American International Pictures, 1964.

Producer and director, The Secret Invasion, United Artists, 1964.

Producer and director, The Tomb of Ligeia (also known as Last Tomb of Ligeia, Ligeia, Edgar Allan Poe's The Tomb of Ligeia, and Tomb of the Cat ), American International Pictures, 1965.

Executive producer, The Girls on the Beach, Paramount, 1965.

Executive producer, Ski Party, American International Pictures, 1965.

Executive producer, Beach Ball, Paramount, 1965.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, The Shooting, filmed in 1965, released by Proteus/Favorite Films, 1971.

Executive producer, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (also known as Prehistoric Planet and Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet ), 1965.

(Uncredited; with Norman D. Wells) Producer, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (also known as Gill Woman and Gill Women of Venus ), Filmgroup, 1966.

Producer and director, The Wild Angels, American International Pictures, 1966.

Executive producer, Blood Bath (also known as Track of the Vampire ), American International Pictures, 1966.

Executive producer, Queen of Blood (also known as Flight to a Far Planet, The Green Woman, Planet of Blood, Planet of Terror, and Planet of Vampires ), American International Pictures, 1966.

(Uncredited) Producer, Ride in the Whirlwind, Favorite Films/Jack H. Harris, 1966.

(Uncredited) Producer, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (also known as Monsters of the Night and The Night Crawlers ), 1966.

Producer and director, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1967.

Producer and director, The Trip, American International Pictures, 1967.

Executive producer, Targets, Paramount, 1967.

Executive producer, Devil's Angels, American International Pictures, 1967.

(Uncredited; with Phil Karlson) Director, A Time for Killing (also known as The Long Ride Home ), Columbia, 1967.

Executive producer, Wild Racers, American International Pictures, 1967.

Executive producer, Naked Angels, Crown International, 1969.

Executive producer, Pit Stop, Crown International, 1969.

(Uncredited; with Cy Endfield) Director, De Sade (also known as Das Ausschweifende Leben des Marquis de Sade and Die Liebesabenteuer des Marquis Sade ), American International Pictures/Transcontinental, 1969.

(As Harry Neill) Director, Target: Harry (also known as How to Make It and What's in It for Harry? ), 1969.

Executive producer, The Dunwich Horror, American International Pictures, 1970.

Producer and director, Bloody Mama, American International Pictures, 1970.

Producer and director, Gas–s–s–s! (also known as Gas!; or, It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It, Gas!, and Gas–s–s–s; or, It May Become Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It ), American International Pictures, 1970.

Executive producer and director, Von Richtofen and Brown (also known as The Red Baron ), United Artists, 1970.

Executive producer, Paddy (also known as Goodbye to the Hill ), Allied Artists, 1970.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, Student Nurses, New World, 1970.

Executive producer, Angels Die Hard! (also known as Rough Boys ), New World, 1970.

Producer, Ivanna (also known as Altar of Blood, Blood Castle, Killers of the Castle of Blood, Scream of the Demon Lover, and Il castello dalle porte di fuoco ), 1970.

Executive producer, Angels Hard as They Come (also known as Angels, Angels Warriors, Angels as Hard as They Come, and Angels, Hell on Harleys ), New World, 1971.

Executive producer, Private Duty Nurses, New World, 1971.

Executive producer, The Big Doll House (also known as Bamboo Dolls House, Woman's Penitentiary, Women in Cages, and Women's Penitentiary III ), New World, 1971.

Executive producer, The Velvet Vampire (also known as Cemetery Girls and Through the Looking Glass ), New World, 1971.

Executive producer, Women in Cages (also known as Women's Penitentiary III ), New World, 1971.

Producer, Boxcar Bertha, American International Pictures, 1972.

Executive producer, The Big Bird Cage (also known as Women's Penitentiary II ), New World, 1972.

Executive producer, The Unholy Rollers (also known as Leader of the Pack ), American International Pictures, 1972.

Executive producer, Night Call Nurses, New World, 1972.

Executive producer, Fly Me, New World, 1972.

Executive producer, The Hot Box (also known as Hell Cats ), New World, 1972.

Executive producer, Night of the Cobra Woman (also known as Movini's Venom ), New World, 1972.

Executive producer, The Final Comedown, New World, 1972, recut version released as Blast!, 1976.

Producer, The Cremators (also known as Dune Rollers ), 1972.

Executive producer, Twilight People (also known as Beasts and Island of the Twilight People ), 1972.

Executive producer, Sweet Kill (also known as The Arousers and A Kiss from Eddie ), 1972.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, The Dirt Gang, 1972.

(With Gene Corman) Producer, I Escaped from Devil's Island (also known as Escape de la Isla del Diablo ), United Artists, 1973.

Executive producer, The Young Nurses, New World, 1973.

Executive producer, The Arena, New World, 1973.

Executive producer, The Student Teachers, New World, 1973.

Executive producer, Tender Loving Care (also known as Naughty Nurses ), New World, 1973.

Producer, La planete sauvage (also known as Divoka planeta, The Fantastic Planet, Planet of Incredible Creatures, and The Savage Planet ), 1973.

Producer, Big Bad Mama, New World, 1974.

Executive producer, TNT Jackson, New World, 1974.

Executive producer, The Woman Hunt (also known as The Highest Bidder ), New World, 1974.

Executive producer, Candy Stripe Nurses (also known as Sweet Candy ), New World, 1974.

Executive producer, Caged Heat (also known as Caged Females and Renegade Girls ), New World, 1974.

Executive producer, Street Girls, New World, 1974.

(With Sam Gellman) Producer, Born to Kill (also known as Cockfighter, Gamblin' Man, and Wild Drifter ), New World, 1974.

Producer, Capone, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1975.

Producer, Death Race 2000, New World, 1975.

Executive producer, Summer School Teachers, New World, 1975.

Executive producer, Darktown Strutters (also known as Get Down and Boogie ), New World, 1975.

Executive producer, Crazy Mama, New World, 1975.

Executive producer, Cover Girl Models, New World, 1975.

Producer, Grotesque, 1975.

Executive producer, Cannonball (also known as Carquake ), New World, 1976.

Producer, Eat My Dust!, New World, 1976.

(With Evelyn Purcell) Producer, Fighting Mad, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1976.

Executive producer, Hollywood Boulevard, New World, 1976.

Executive producer, Jackson County Jail (also known as The Innocent Victim ), New World, 1976.

Executive producer, Nashville Girl (also known as Country Music Daughter and New Girl in Town ), New World, 1976.

Executive producer, Moving Violation, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1976.

Executive producer, God Told Me To (also known as Demon ), New World, 1976.

Executive producer, Dynamite Women (also known as The Great Texas Dynamite Chase ), New World, 1976.

Producer, Lumiere, New World, 1976.

Producer, Thunder and Lightning (also known as Thunder on the Highway ), Twentieth Century–Fox, 1977.

Producer, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, New World, 1977.

Executive producer, Black Oak Conspiracy, New World, 1977.

Executive producer, Grand Theft Auto, New World, 1977.

Executive producer, Moonshine County Express, New World, 1977.

Executive producer, Maniac (also known as Assault on Paradise, Ransom, and The Town That Cried Terror ), New World, 1977.

Executive producer, A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich, New World, 1977.

Producer, Tigress (also known as Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia ), 1977.

Producer, Avalanche, New World, 1978.

Producer and (uncredited) director, Deathsport, New World, 1978.

Executive producer, Piranha, New World, 1978.

Executive producer, The Bees, New World, 1978.

(With Saul Krugman) Producer, Fast Charlie…The Moonbeam Rider (also known as Fast Charlie and the Moonbeam ), Universal, 1979.

Producer, Saint Jack, New World, 1979.

Executive producer, Rock 'n' Roll High School, 1979.

Executive producer, Up from the Depths, 1979.

Executive producer, Ginga Tetsudo Three–Nine (also known as Galaxy Express, Galaxy Express 999, Galaxy Express 999: The Signature Edition, and Ginga Tetsudo 999 ), 1979.

(U.S. sequences) Executive producer, L'isola degli uo-mini pesce (also known as The Fish Men, Island of Mutations, Island of the Fishmen, Screamers, and Something Waits in the Dark ), 1979.

Executive producer, Battle beyond the Stars, New World, 1980.

(Uncredited) Producer, Humanoids from the Deep (also known as Humanoids of the Deep, Monster, and Monsters ), 1980.

(With Marc Stiegler) Producer, Galaxy of Terror (also known as An Infinity of Terror, Mindwarp, Planet of Horrors, and Quest ), New World, 1981.

(With Gale Hurd) Producer, Smokey Bites the Dust, New World, 1981.

Producer and executive producer, The Territory (also known as Le Territoire ), 1981.

(With Mary Ann Fisher) Producer, Forbidden World (also known as Mutant ), New World, 1982.

Producer, Sorceress (also known as Los Barbaros ), 1982.

Executive producer, Android, 1982.

(New footage) Producer, White Star (also known as Let It Rock ), 1983.

Executive producer, Deathstalker (also known as El cazador de la muerte ), 1983.

Producer, Love Letters (also known as My Love Letters ), New World, 1983.

Producer, Space Raiders (also known as Star Child ), New World, 1983.

Executive producer, The Warrior and the Sorceress, 1983.

Executive producer, Suburbia (also known as The Wild Side and Rebel Streets ), New World, 1983.

Producer, Hell's Angels Forever, 1983.

Executive producer, Deathstalker, New World, 1984.

Executive producer, Oddballs (also known as All Shook Up! ), 1984.

Executive producer, Barbarian Queen (also known as Queen of the Naked Steel and Reina salvaje ), Concorde, 1985.

Executive producer, Streetwalkin' (also known as City Streets and Cookie ), Concorde, 1985.

Executive producer, School Spirit, 1985.

Executive producer, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (also known as El mago del reino perdido ), 1985.

(With Alex Sessa) Producer, Cocaine Wars (also known as Vice Wars and La muerte blanca ), Concorde, 1986.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, House (also known as House: Ding Dong, You're Dead ), 1986.

Executive producer, Chopping Mall (also known as Kill-bots ), 1986.

Executive producer, Eye of the Eagle, 1986.

Executive producer, Amazons (also known as Amazonas ), 1986.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, Sorority House Massacre (also known as Don't Let Go ), 1987.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, House II: The Second Story, 1987.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, Saigon Commandos, 1987.

(With Ginny Nugent) Producer, Munchies, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer/United Artists, 1987.

Executive producer, Stripped to Kill, Concorde, 1987.

Executive producer, Sweet Revenge, United Artists, 1987.

Executive producer, Hour of the Assassin, Concorde, 1987.

Producer, Slumber Party Massacre II, Concorde, 1987.

Executive producer, Summer Camp Nightmare (also known as The Butterfly Revolution ), Concorde, 1987.

Executive producer, Death Stalker II (also known as El cazador de la muerte and Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans ), 1987.

Producer, Nightfall, Concorde, 1988.

Executive producer, Watchers, Universal, 1988.

Executive producer, Dangerous Love, Concorde, 1988.

Producer, Big Bad Mama II, Concorde, 1988.

Producer, The Drifter, Concorde, 1988.

Producer, Daddy's Boys, Concorde, 1988.

Executive producer, Crime Zone, Concorde, 1988.

Executive producer, The New Gladiators, 1988.

Executive producer, Beach Balls (also known as Beach-balls ), 1988.

Executive producer, Andy Colby's Incredibly Awesome Adventure (also known as Andy and the Airwave Rangers, Andy Colby's Incredible Adventure, and Andy Colby's Incredible Video Adventure ), 1988.

Executive producer, Emmanuelle VI (also known as Emmanuelle 6 ), 1988.

Executive producer, The Lawless Land, 1988.

(New World Pictures) Executive producer, Apprentice to Murder, 1988.

(With Sessa) Producer, Two to Tango (also known as Matar es morir un poco ), Concorde, 1989.

Producer, Time Trackers, Concorde, 1989.

Producer, The Terror Within, Concorde, 1989.

Producer, Bloodfist, Concorde, 1989.

Producer, Lords of the Deep, Concorde, 1989.

Executive producer, Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls (also known as Stripped to Kill II ), Concorde, 1989.

Producer, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II, 1989.

Executive producer, Transylvania Twist, 1989.

Executive producer, The Lawless Land, Concorde, 1989.

Executive producer, Heroes Stand Alone, Concorde/New Horizons, 1989.

Executive producer, Dance of the Damned, 1989.

Executive producer, Deathstalker III: Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (also known as Deathstalker 3 and Deathstalker 3: Warriors from Hell ), 1989.

Executive producer, Warlock, 1989.

Producer, To Die Standing (also known as Crackdown ), 1990.

Executive producer, Last Stand at Lang Mei (also known as Eye of the Eagle 3 ), 1990.

Executive producer, Welcome to Oblivion (also known as Ultra Warrior ), 1990.

Executive producer, Streets, 1990.

Executive producer, Full Fathom Five, 1990.

Executive producer, A Cry in the Wild, 1990.

Executive producer, Back to Back, 1990.

Producer, Overexposed, Concorde, 1990.

Producer, The Masque of the Red Death (also known as Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death ), Concorde, 1990.

Producer, The Haunting of Morella, Concorde, 1990.

Producer and director, Frankenstein Unbound (also known as Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound ), Twentieth Century–Fox, 1990.

Producer, Watchers II, 1990.

Executive producer, Silk 2, Concorde/New Horizons, 1990.

Executive producer, Primary Target, Concorde/New Horizons, 1990.

Producer, Dune Warriors, 1990.

Executive producer, Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans (also known as Deathstalker IV and Deathstalker IV: The Darkest Hour ), 1990.

Producer, Slumber Party Massacre III (also known as Stab in the Dark ), 1990.

Executive producer, Sorority House Massacre II (also known as Night Frenzy and Nighty Nightmare ), 1990.

Executive producer, Play Murder for Me (also known as Negra medianoche ), 1990.

Executive producer, Curse of the Crystal Eye, 1991.

Producer, Bloodfist II, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer/United Artists Home Video, 1991.

Executive producer, The Terror Within II (also known as The Terror Within 2 ), 1991.

Executive producer, Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever, 1991.

Executive producer, Hollywood Boulevard II (also known as Back to Hollywood Boulevard ), 1991.

Executive producer, Futurekick, 1991.

Executive producer, Homicidal Impulse (also known as Killer Instinct ), 1991.

Producer, Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight (also known as Forced to Fight ), New Horizons Home Video, 1991.

Executive producer, Dead Space, 1991.

Producer, Immortal Sins (also known as Besos en la oscuridad, Veil of Dreams, and Vengeance with a Kiss ), 1991.

Executive producer, Ultraviolet, 1992.

Executive producer, Quake! (also known as Aftershock ), 1992.

Executive producer, Munchie, 1992.

Executive producer, In the Heat of Passion, 1992.

Executive producer, Final Judgment, 1992.

Executive producer, Dance with Death, 1992.

Executive producer, Body Chemistry II: Voice of a Stranger (also known as Voice of a Stranger ), 1992.

Executive producer, Bloodfist IV: Die Trying, 1992.

Executive producer, Blackbelt, 1992.

Executive producer, The Berlin Conspiracy, 1992.

Executive producer, The Assassination Game (also known as Crisis in the Kremlin ), 1992.

Producer, Field of Fire, HBO Video, 1992.

Executive producer, Body Waves, New Horizons Home Video, 1992.

Producer, Final Embrace, 1992.

Executive producer, Ultra Warrior (also known as Welcome to Oblivion ), 1992.

Producer, Raiders of the Sun, 1992.

Producer, Dracula Rising, Concorde, 1993.

Executive producer, To Sleep with a Vampire, 1993.

Executive producer, Stepmonster, 1993.

Executive producer, Live by the Fist, 1993.

Executive producer, Little Miss Millions (also known as Home for Christmas and Little Miss Zillions ), 1993.

Executive producer, Firehawk, 1993.

Executive producer, Dragonfire, 1993.

Executive producer, Carnosaur, 1993.

Executive producer, 800 Leagues down the Amazon (also known as Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon ), 1993.

Executive producer, The Skateboard Kid, 1993.

Executive producer, The Liars' Club, 1993.

Producer, Kill Zone, 1993.

Executive producer, Curse of the Crystal Eye, 1993.

Executive producer, Bloodfist V: Human Target (also known as Human Target ), 1993.

Executive producer, Blackbelt II (also known as Black-belt II: Fatal Force ), 1993.

Producer, Angelfist, 1993.

Executive producer, Fire on the Amazon (also known as Lost Paradise ), 1993.

Executive producer, Watchers III, New Horizons Home Video, 1994.

Executive producer, Unborn II (also known as Baby Blood II ), New Horizons Home Video, 1994.

Executive producer, In the Heat of Passion II (also known as Behind Closed Doors and Unfaithful ), New Horizons Home Video, 1994.

Executive producer, Cheyenne Warrior, Concorde/New Horizons, 1994.

Executive producer, Stranglehold, 1994.

Producer, One Man Army (also known as Kick & Fury ), 1994.

Executive producer, No Dessert Dad, Til You Mow the Lawn, 1994.

Executive producer, New Crime City (also known as Angeles 2020 ), 1994.

Executive producer, The Fantastic Four, 1994.

Executive producer, Dinosaur Island, 1994.

Executive producer, Demon Keeper, 1994.

Executive producer, Deadly Desire (also known as Saturday Night Special and The Abduction of Crystal Blue ), 1994.

Executive producer, Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero (also known as Assault at Ground Zero and Ground Zero ), 1994.

Executive producer, Angel of Destruction (also known as Furious Angel ), 1994.

Executive producer, Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III (also known as Body Chemistry 3: Point of Seduction ), 1994.

Executive producer, Revenge of the Red Baron (also known as Plane Fear ), 1994.

Executive producer, Carnosaur II (also known as Carnosaur 2 ), New Horizons Home Video, 1995.

Executive producer, One Night Stand, Concorde/New Horizons, 1995.

Executive producer, Dillinger and Capone, New Horizons Home Video, 1995.

Executive producer, The Crazysitter (also known as Two Much Trouble ), New Horizons Home Video, 1995.

Executive producer, The Spy Within (also known as Flight of the Dove ), New Horizons Home Video, 1995.

Executive producer, Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys (also known as Demolition Day ), New Horizons Home Video, 1995.

Executive producer, Where Evil Lies, 1995.

Executive producer, Last Chance, 1995.

Executive producer, Droid Gunner (also known as Cyberzone and Phoenix 2 ), 1995.

Executive producer, Caged Heat 3000, 1995.

Executive producer, Bloodfist VII (also known as Manhunt ), 1995.

Executive producer, Baby Face Nelson, 1995.

Executive producer, Reflections on a Crime (also known as Reflections in the Dark ), 1995.

Executive producer, Twisted Love, 1995.

Executive producer, One Night Stand (also known as Before the Night ), 1995.

Executive producer, Rumble in the Streets, Concorde, 1996.

Executive producer, Bloodfist VIII: Trained to Kill (also known as Hard Way Out ), Concorde, 1996.

Executive producer, Black Rose of Harlem (also known as Machine Gun Blues and Pistol Blues ), New Horizon Picture Corp., 1996.

Executive producer, Bio–Tech Warrior, 1996.

Producer, Ladykiller (also known as Scene of the Crime ), 1996.

Executive producer, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species (also known as Primal Species ), 1996.

Executive producer, Alien Terminator (also known as Alien Species ), 1996.

Executive producer, Time under Fire (also known as Beneath the Bermuda Triangle ), 1996.

Executive producer, Urban Justice (also known as Blood Money and Under Oath ), 1997.

Executive producer, Stripteaser II, 1997.

Executive producer, Starquest II (also known as Mind Breakers and Galactic Odyssey ), 1997.

Executive producer, Shadow Dancer (also known as Physical Attraction ), 1997.

Executive producer, The Sea Wolf (also known as Jack London's The Sea Wolf ), 1997.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, Overdrive, Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, The Haunted Sea, Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, Falling Fire (also known as The Cusp and Three Minutes to Impact ), 1997.

Executive producer, Eruption (also known as Volcano Run and Volcan en llamas ), 1997.

Executive producer, Don't Sleep Alone, 1997.

Executive producer, Detonator, 1997.

Executive producer, Crossroads of Destiny (also known as Jailbreak ), Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, Club Vampire, Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, Circuit Breaker, 1997.

Executive producer, Mortal Challenge, 1997.

Executive producer, Operation Cobra, 1997.

Executive producer, Born Bad, 1997.

Executive producer, Black Thunder, Concorde/New Horizons, 1997.

Executive producer, The Protector, Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, Scene of the Crime, Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, Star Portal, 1997.

Executive producer, Inferno (also known as Operation Cobra ), 1997.

Executive producer, White Wolves III: Cry of the White Wolf, Concorde, 1997.

Executive producer, Future Fear, 1998.

Producer, Vatican Air Two, 1998.

Executive producer, Stray Bullet, Concorde, 1998.

Producer, A Very Unlucky Leprechaun, Concorde, 1998.

Executive producer, Criminal Affairs, Concorde, 1998.

Executive producer, My Brother's War (also known as Flashpoint ), Concorde, 1998.

Producer, Running Woman, Concorde, 1998.

Executive producer, Watchers Reborn, Concorde, 1998.

Executive producer, Detonator, 1998.

Executive producer, Desert Thunder, New Horizons Home Video, 1998.

Executive producer, Knocking on Death's Door, Concorde, 1999.

Executive producer, Born Bad, Concorde, 1999.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, Macon County Jail (also known as Jailbreak ), 1999.

Producer, The Haunting of Hell House (also known as The Ghostly Rental and Henry James' The Haunting of Hell House ), New Horizons Home Video, 1999.

Producer, The White Pony, New Horizons Home Video, 1999.

Executive producer, Shepherd (also known as Cyber-city ), 1999.

Executive producer, The Protector, New Horizons, 1999.

Executive producer, Cybermaster (also known as Shepherd II ), New Horizons Home Video, 1999.

Producer, Dangerous Curves (also known as Stray Bullet II ), New Horizons Home Video, 2000.

Executive producer, Kyoko (also known as Because of You ), 2000.

Producer, The Doorway, New Concorde, 2000.

Executive producer, Termination Man, 2000.

Producer, The Suicide Club (also known as Game of Death, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Game of Death, and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club ), Concorde, 2000.

Producer, Nightfall (also known as Isaac Asimov's Nightfall ), Concorde/New Horizons, 2000.

Producer, Moving Target, New Concorde, 2000.

Executive producer, The Arena (also known as Gladiatrix ), Concorde/New Horizons, 2001.

Producer, Raptor, New Concorde, 2001.

Executive producer, Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song (documentary), Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2001.

(Uncredited) Executive producer, Hard As Nails, New Concorde, 2001.

Executive producer, Escape from Afghanistan, New Concorde Home Entertainment, 2002.

Executive producer, Wolfhound, New Concorde, 2002.

Director, Captain Justice, 2002.

Executive producer, Sting of the Black Scorpion, New Concorde, 2002.

Executive producer and director, Slaughter Studios, Concorde/New Horizons, 2002.

Executive producer, Shakedown, New Horizons, 2002.

Executive producer, Firefight, New Concorde, 2003.

Executive producer, Barbarian, New Concorde, 2003.

Executive producer, DinoCroc, New Concorde Home Entertainment, 2004.

Executive producer, Rage and Discipline, New Concorde, 2004.

Also worked as producer and director of the uncompleted films The Little Guy and Reception, both 1957.

Film Appearances:

(Uncredited) Tommy, Monster from the Ocean Floor (also known as It Stalked the Monster Floor, It Stalked the Ocean Floor, and Monster Maker ), 1954.

(Uncredited) Roadblock state trooper, The Fast and the Furious, 1954.

(Uncredited) Nelson, Louise's fiancee in frame photograph, Day the World Ended, 1956.

Office worker, Naked Paradise (also known as Thunder over Hawaii ), American International Pictures, 1957.

Technician, War of the Satellites, Allied Artists, 1958.

(Uncredited) Joe, the TV truck man, The Cry Baby Killer, Allied Artists, 1958.

(Uncredited) Cop who finds note, Hot Car Girl, 1958.

(Uncredited) Doctor in hospital, The Wasp Woman (also known as The Bee Girl and Insect Woman ), Allied Artists, 1960.

The Last Woman on Earth, Filmgroup, 1960.

(Uncredited) Ski Troop Attack, Filmgroup, 1960.

(Uncredited) Battle of Blood Island, 1960.

Creature from the Haunted Sea, Filmgroup, 1961.

The Little Shop of Horrors, Filmgroup, 1961.

(Uncredited) Greek soldier, Atlas, 1961.

The Young Racers, American International Pictures, 1963.

Second senator, The Godfather, Part II (also known as Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Part II ), Paramount, 1974.

District attorney, Cannonball (also known as Carquake ), New World, 1976.

Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel (documentary), Blackwood Films, 1978.

(Uncredited) Man in the phone booth, The Howling, Avco Embassy, 1981.

(Uncredited) Lawyer, The State of Things (also known as O estado das coisas and Der Stand der Dinge ), Artificial Eye, 1982.

Mr. MacBride, Swing Shift, Warner Bros., 1984.

Lords of the Deep, Concorde, 1989.

Himself, Hollywood Boulevard II (also known as Back to Hollywood Boulevard ), Concorde, 1989.

The President, Ultra Warrior (also known as Welcome to Oblivion ), 1990.

FBI director Hayden Burke, The Silence of the Lambs, Orion, 1991.

Body Waves, New Horizons Home Video, 1992.

The president, Ultra Warrior (also known as Welcome to Oblivion ), 1992.

Mr. Laird, Philadelphia, TriStar, 1993.

A Century of Cinema, 1994.

Himself, Conversations with Vincent, 1994.

Congressman, Apollo 13 (also known as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience ), Universal, 1995.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Witchcraft and Demons (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: The Monster Makers (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: The Evil Unseeable (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: The Count and Company (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: The Aristocrats of Evil (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Sorcerers (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Scream Queens (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Maniacs (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, 100 Years of Horror: Freaks (documentary), Passport Video, 1996.

Himself, Monte Hellman: American Auteur (documentary short film), Vanguard Cinema, 1997.

Some Nudity Required, Only Child, 1998.

Himself, The Independent, Arrow Releasing, 2000.

Studio executive, Scream 3, Dimension Films, 2000.

Himself, A Galaxy Far Far Away, 2001.

Himself, The Wicker Man Enigma (documentary short film), 2001.

Himself, Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies, 2001.

Himself, Inside the Labyrinth: The Making of "The Silence of the Lambs " (documentary), MGM/UA Home Entertainment, 2001.

Himself, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, 2003.

Hollywood director, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Warner Bros., 2003.

Himself, A Decade under the Influence, 2003.

Himself, The Trip: Tune In, Trip Out, 2003.

Former US President, The Manchurian Candidate, Paramount, 2004.

Himself, From Spiders to Switchblades, 2005.

Television Work; Series:

Executive producer and creator, Black Scorpion (also known as Roger Corman Presents Black Scorpion ), Sci–Fi Channel, 2001.

Television Executive Producer; Pilots:

The Georgia Peaches, CBS, 1980.

Television Executive Producer; Miniseries:

The Phantom Eye (also known as Roger Corman's The Phantom Eye ), AMC, 1999.

Television Executive Producer; Movies:

Outside Chance (also known as Jackson County Jail ), CBS, 1978.

"Hellfire" (also known as "Blood Song," "Haunted Symphony," and "Symphony"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Wasp Woman" (also known as "Forbidden Beauty"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Virtual Seduction" (also known as "Addicted to Love"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Terminal Virus" (also known as "Last Chance"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Suspect Device," Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Sawbones" (also known as "Prescription for Murder"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Piranha," Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Not of This Earth," Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Not like Us," Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"A Bucket of Blood" (also known as "Dark Secrets" and "The Death Artist"), Roger Corman Presents, Show-time, 1995.

"Bram Stoker's Burial of the Rats" (also known as "Burial of the Rats"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"Black Scorpion" (also known as "Of Unknown Origins"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

"The Alien Within" (also known as "Of Unknown Origins"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1995.

Star Quest, Sci–Fi Channel, 1995.

Vampirella, Showtime, 1996.

Lady Killer, Showtime, 1996.

Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (also known as Black Scorpion: Ground Zero ), Showtime, 1996.

"The Unspeakable" (also known as "Criminal Pursuit" and "Shadow of a Scream"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1996.

"Subliminal Seduction" (also known as "The Corporation," " Flash Frame," and "Mind Storm"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1996.

"Last Exit to Earth," Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1996.

"Humanoids from the Deep," Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1996.

Death Game (also known as Mortal Challenge ), Show-time, 1996.

"Alien Avengers" (also known as "Welcome to Planet Earth"), Roger Corman Presents, Showtime, 1996.

House of the Damned (also known as Escape to Nowhere and Spectre ), Showtime, 1996.

Inhumanoid, Showtime, 1996.

Marquis de Sade (also known as Dark Prince ), Show-time, 1996.

When the Bullet Hits the Bone, Showtime, 1996.

"Spacejacked," Roger Corman Presents, The Movie Channel, 1997.

"Alien Avengers II" (also known as "Aliens among Us" and "Welcome to Planet Earth II"), Roger Corman Presents, The Movie Channel, 1997.

"Falling Fire" (also known as "3 Minutes to Impact" and "The Cusp"), Roger Corman Presents, The Movie Channel, 1998.

"Galactic Odyssey," Roger Corman Presents, The Movie Channel, 1998.

Avalanche Alley, 2001.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Himself, A–Z of Horror (documentary; also known as Clive Baker's A–Z of Horror ), 1997.

Dr. Gorman, The Phantom Eye (also known as Roger Corman's The Phantom Eye ), AMC, 1999.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Dr. Bregman, "Eye," John Carpenter Presents Body Bags (also known as John Carpenter Presents "Body Bags " and John Carpenter Presents "Mind Games "), Show-time, 1993.

Mr. Randolph, Runaway Daughters (also known as Rebel Highway ), Showtime, 1994.

Sandy Collins, The Second Civil War, HBO, 1997.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Guest, The Horror of It All, PBS, 1983.

The Horror Hall of Fame, syndicated, 1990.

The Horror Hall of Fame II, syndicated, 1991.

Himself, Reflections on "Citizen Kane " (documentary), 1991.

A Day in the Life of Hollywood, Showtime, 1992.

The Real Frankenstein: An Untold Story (documentary), ABC, 1995.

The Roger Corman Special, Sci–Fi Channel, 1995.

Interviewee, Anatomy of Horror, UPN, 1995.

The Man Who Drew Bug–Eyed Monsters, PBS, 1996.

Canned Ham: Bowfinger (documentary), Comedy Central, 1999.

Hollywood's Hot Wheels (documentary), AMC, 1999.

Ron Howard: Hollywood's Favorite Son (documentary), Arts and Entertainment, 1999.

The Wild Ride of Outlaw Bikers (documentary), Arts and Entertainment, 1999.

Himself, David Carradine: The E! True Hollywood Story (documentary), E! Entertainment Television, 2000.

Himself, Claudia Jennings: The E! True Hollywood Story (documentary; also known as Fast Life/Untimely Death: Playmate Claudia Jennings: The E! True Hollywood Story ), E! Entertainment Television, 2000.

Himself, A&E Biography: Vincent Price—The Versatile Villain (documentary), Arts and Entertainment, 2000.

(Uncredited) Himself, Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties (documentary), TCM, 2001.

Himself, Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man, 2001.

Himself, It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures, AMC, 2001.

(Uncredited) Himself, Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film (documentary), AMC, 2002.

Himself, Biography Special: The Fondas (documentary), 2004.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

"Dennis Hopper," Crazy about the Movies, Cinemax, 1991.

"Fade In, Fade Out," Beverly Hills, 90210, Fox, 1996.

John Matlin, "Judge and Jury," The Practice, 1999.

Also appeared as himself, "Roger Corman," The Directors.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

The Terror (also known as The Castle of Terror and Lady of the Shadows ), American International Pictures, 1963.

Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, 1980.

(With F. X. Feeney) Frankenstein Unbound (also known as Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound; based on a novel by Brian Aldiss), Twentieth Century–Fox, 1990.

Slaughter Studios, 2002.

Books:

(With Jim Jerome) How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, 1990.

ADAPTATIONS

The films Highway Dragnet, released by Allied Artists in 1954, and The Fast and the Furious, distributed by American Releasing in 1954, were both based on stories by Corman.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

De Franco, J. P., The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979.

Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Volume 21, Gale Group, 2001.

Frank, Alan, The Films of Roger Corman: Shooting My Way Out of Trouble, B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1998.

Gray, Beverly, Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking, Renaissance Books, 2000.

McCarthy, Todd & Charles Flynn, King of the Bs, Dutton, 1975.

McGee, Mark Thomas, Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts, McFarland & Co., Inc., 1988.

Naha, Ed, Films of Roger Corman, 1982.

Naha, Ed, Roger Corman: Brilliance on a Budget, Arco Press, 1982.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press, 2000.

CORMAN, Roger

Nationality: American. Born: Roger William Corman in Detroit, Michigan, 5 April 1926. Education: Attended Beverly Hills High School; Stanford University, California, engineering degree; Oxford University, one term, 1950. Military Service: Served in United States Navy during World War II. Family: Married Julie Halloran, 1969, one daughter, two sons. Career: Messenger boy, Twentieth Century-Fox, then television stagehand and literary agent, Hollywood, early 1950s; scriptwriter and producer, then director and producer, mainly for American International Pictures (AIP), from 1953; directed first film, Guns West, 1954; founder and director of production and distribution company New World Pictures, 1970–83; founded production company New Horizons Pictures, 1983, and distribution company Concorde, 1985; set up Brentwood TV company, 1990. Address: c/o New Horizons Production Company, 11600 San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90049, U.S.A.

Films as Producer and Director:

1954

Guns West

1955

Apache Woman; Day the World Ended

1956

The Oklahoma Woman; It Conquered the World; Gunslinger; Swamp Woman; The Undead

1957

She-Gods of Shark Reef (Shark Reef); Naked Paradise; Not of This Earth; Rock All Night; Attack of the Crab Monsters; Carnival Rock; Teenage Doll; Sorority Girl (The Bad One); The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (Viking Women and the Sea Serpent; Viking Women)

1958

War of the Satellites (+ role); Machine Gun Kelly; Teenage Caveman (Out of the Darkness); I, Mobster (The Mobster); Last Woman on Earth (+ role)

1959

The Wasp Woman (+ role); A Bucket of Blood

1960

Ski Troop Attack (+ role); The Fall of the House of Usher (House of Usher); The Little Shop of Horrors (+ role); Creature from the Haunted Sea (+ role); Atlas

1961

Pit and the Pendulum; The Intruder (I Hate Your Guts)

1962

The Premature Burial; Tales of Terror; Tower of London

1963

The Raven; The Young Racers (+ role); The Haunted Palace; The Terror; X (The Man with the X-Ray Eyes)

1964

The Secret Invasion; The Masque of the Red Death ; The Tomb of Ligeia

1966

The Wild Angels

1967

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

1969

What's In It for Harry (for TV)

1970

Gass-s-s-s, or It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It

1971

Von Richthofen and Brown (The Red Baron)

1989

Frankenstein Unbound

Films as Producer or Executive Producer:

1954

Highway Dragnet (Juran) (+ co-sc); Monster from the Ocean Floor (Ordung); The Fast and the Furious (Ireland and Sampson)

1955

Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes (Kramarsky)

1958

Stake out on Dope Street (Kershner); The Cry Baby (Addiss); Monster from Galaxy 27 (Kowalski); Hot Car Girl (Kowalski); Night of the Blood Beast (Kowalski); The Brain Eaters (Ve Sota); Paratroop Command (Witney); The Wild Ride (Berman)

1959

Tank Commando (Tank Commandos) (Topper); Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (Sanders); High School Big Shot (The Young Sinners) (Rapp); Attack of the Giant Leeches (Demons of the Swamp) (Kowalski); Beast from a Haunted Cave (Hellman); T-Bird Gang (The Pay-Off) (Harbinger); Battle of Blood Island (Rapp)

1961

Night Tide (Harrington); The Mermaids of Tiburon (Aquasex) (Lamb)

1962

The Magic Voyage of Sinbad (Posco) (re-edited version of Ptuschko's 1952 film Sadko); Battle beyond the Sun (Colchart) (re-edited version of Kozyr and Karyukov's 1960 film Nebo zovet/The Heavens Call)

1963

Dementia (The Haunted and the Hunted) (Coppola)

1965

The Girls on the Beach (Witney); Sky Party (Rafkin); Beach Ball (Weinrib); The Shooting (Hellman); Ride in the Whirl-wind (Hellman); Blood Bath (Hill and Rothman)

1966

Queen of Blood (Harrington)

1967

Targets (Bogdanovich); Devil's Angels (Haller)

1969

The Dunwich Horror (Haller); Naked Angels (Clark); Pit Stop (Hill); Paddy (Haller)

1970

Student Nurses (Rothman); Angels Die Hard! (Compton)

1971

Angels Hard as They Come (Viola); Women in Cages (de Leon); Private Duty Nurses (Armitage); The Big Doll House (Hill); The Velvet Vampire (Rothman)

1972

The Final Comedown (Williams); Boxcar Bertha (Scorsese); The Big Bird Cage (Hill); The Unholy Rollers (Zimmerman); Night Call Nurses (Kaplan); Fly Me (Santiago); The Young Nurses (Kimbro); The Hot Box (Viola); Night of the Cobra Woman (Meyer)

1973

I Escaped from Devil's Island (Meyer); The Arena (Carver); The Student Teachers (Kaplan); Tender Loving Care (Naughty Nurses) (Edmonds)

1974

Cheap (Swenson); Candy Stripe Nurses (Holleb); Cockfighter (Born to Kill) (Hellman); Big Bad Mama (Carver); Caged Heat (Demme); TNT Jackson (Santiago); Street Girls (Miller); The Woman Hunt (Romero)

1975

Capone (Carver); Death Race 2000 (Bartel); Crazy Mama (Demme); Summer School Teachers (Peeters); Dark Town Strutters (Witney); Cover Girl Models (Santiago)

1976

Hollywood Boulevard (Arkush and Dante); Fighting Mad (Demme); Cannonball (Carquake) (Bartel); Jackson County Jail (Miller); Nashville Girl (New Girl in Town) (Trikonis); Moving Violation (Dubin); God Told Me To (Demon) (Cohen); Dynamite Women (The Great Texas Dynamite Chase) (Pressman); Eat My Dust! (Wilson)

1977

Black Oak Conspiracy (Kelljan); Grand Theft Auto (Howard); I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (Page); Thunder and Lightning (Allen); Andy Warhol's Bad (Johnson); Moonshine County Express (Trikonis); Dirty Duck (Swenson); Maniac (Assault on Paradise) (Compton); A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (Nelson)

1978

Deathsport (Suso and Arkush); Piranha (Dante); Avalanche (Allen); Outside Chance (Miller); The Bees (Zacharias)

1979

Rock 'n' Roll High School (Arkush); Saint Jack (Bogdanovich)

1980

Battle beyond the Stars (Colchart)

1981

Smokey Bites the Dust (Griffith); Galaxy of Terror (Clark)

1982

Forbidden World (Holzman)

1983

Star Child (Cohne); Space Raiders (Howard Cohen); Suburbia (Spheeris); Warrior and the Sorceress (Broderick)

1984

Love Letters (Jones); Deathstalker (John Watson)

1985

Barbarian Queen (Oliveira); Streetwalkin' (Freeman)

1986

Cocaine Wars (Oliveira), Big Bad Mama II (Wynorski)

1987

Munchies (Hirsch); Stripped to Kill (Ruben); The Lawless Land (Hess); Amazons (Sessa); Slumber Party Massacre (Amy Jones); Hour of the Assassin (Llosa); Sweet Revenge (Sobel)

1988

The Drifter (Brand); Daddy's Boys (Minion); Half Life (Ruben); Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (Howard Cohen); Nightfall (Mayersberg); Dangerous Love (Ollstein); Watchers (Hess)

1989

Two to Tango (Oliveira); Crime Zone (Llosa); Stripped to Kill (Shea Ruben); Dance of the Damned (Shea Ruben); The Terror Within (Notz); Time Trackers (Howard Cohen); Bloodfist (Winkless); Masque of the Red Death (Brand); Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (Griffith); Heroes Stand Alone (Griffiths); Transylvania Twist (Wynorski)

1990

Overexposed (Brand); Streets (Shea Ruben); Morella (Wynorski); Cry in the Wild (Griffiths); Back to Back (Kincade); Primary Target (Henderson); Watchers II (Notz); Silk 2 (Santiago); Full Fathom Five (Franklin); Bloodfist II (Blumenthal)

1991

Terror Within II (Stevens); Hollywood Boulevard (Dante and Arkush); Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (Feldman); Futurekick (Klaus)

1992

Play Murder for Me (Oliveira); Eye of the Eagle 3 (Santiago); In the Heat of Passion (Flender); Deathstalker 4 (Hill); Bloodfist 3 (Sassone); Immortal Sins (Hachuel); Berlin Conspiracy (Winkless); Field of Fire (Santiago); Dance with Death (Moore); Ultra Violet (Griffiths); Bodywaves (Pesce); Blackbelt (C.P. Moore); Sorority House Massacre 2 (Wynorski); Munchie (Wynorski); Body Chemistry 2 (Simon); Assassination Game (Winfrey); Final Embrace (Sassone); Homicidal Impulse (Tausik); Bloodfist 4 (Ziller)

1993

Firehawk (Santiago); To Sleep with a Vampire (Friedman); Stepmonster (Stanford); Dracula Rising (Gallo); Carnosaur (Simon); 800 Leagues down the Amazon (Llosa); Live by the Fist (Santiago); Dragonfire (Jacobson)

1994

Cheyenne Warrior (Griffiths); Unborn 2 (Jacobson); Watchers 3 (Stanford); In the Heat of Passion II (Cyran); Reflections in the Dark (Purdy)

1995

Carnosaur 2 (Morneau); Spy Within (Railsback); Crazysitter (McDonald); Dillinger and Capone (Purdy); Twisted Love (Lottimer) (exec pr); One Night Stand (Shire) (exec pr)

1996

Vampirella (Wynorski) (exec pr); The Unspeakable (McCain) (exec pr); Subliminal Seduction (Stevens) (exec pr); Rumble in the Streets (McCormick) (exec pr); Last Exit to Earth (Shea) (exec pr); Ladykiller (Winkless); Humanoids from the Deep (Yonis—for TV) (exec pr); House of the Damned (Levy) (exec pr); Death Game (Cheveldave—for TV); Bloodfist VIII: Trained to Kill (Jacobson) (exec pr); Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (Winfrey) (exec pr); Black Rose of Harlem (Gallo) (exec pr); Bio-Tech Warrior (McCormick) (exec pr); Alien Avengers (Spiro) (exec pr); Carnosaur 3: Primal Species (Winfrey)

1997

Urban Justice (Payne) (exec pr); Stripteaser II (Ernest) (exec pr); Starquest II (Gallo) (exec pr); Shadow Dancer (M.P. Girard) (exec pr); The Sea Wolf (McDonald) (exec pr); Overdrive (Spiro) (exec pr); Macon County Jail (Muspratt) (exec pr); Haunted Sea (Golden) (exec pr); Future Fear (Baumander) (exec pr); Falling Fire (D'Or) (exec pr); Eruption (Gibby) (exec pr); Don't Sleep Alone (Andrew) (exec pr); Detonator (Clancy) (exec pr); Criminal Affairs (Cullinane) (exec pr); Club Vampire (Ruben) (exec pr); Circuit Breaker (Muspratt) (exec pr); Born Bad (Yonis) (exec pr); Black Thunder (Jacobson); Alien Avengers II (Payne) (exec pr); Spacejacked (Cullinane) (exec pr)

1998

Stray Bullet (Wood) (exec pr); Running Woman (Samuels); Watchers Reborn (Buechler); A Very Unlucky Leprechaun (Kelly)

1999

The Protector (McCormick); The Phantom Eye (Gibby—mini for TV) (+ role as Dr. Gorman); The Haunting of Hell House (Marcus); Shepherd

2000

The Doorway; The Suicide Club

Other Films:

1967

A Time for Killing (The Long Ride Home) (Karlson) (uncredited co-d); Wild Racers (Haller) (uncredited 2nd unit d)

1969

De Sade (Enfield) (uncredited co-d)

1974

The Godfather, Part II (Coppola) (role)

1980

The Howling (Dante) (role)

1983

Der Stand der Dinge (The State of Things) (Wenders) (role)

1984

Swing Shift (Demme) (role)

1991

Silence of the Lambs (Demme) (role as FBI Director Hayden Burke)

1993

Philadelphia (Demme) (role as Mr. Laird)

1995

Apollo 13 (Howard) (role as Congressman)

1997

The Second Civil War (Dante) (role as Sandy Collins)

2000

Scream 3 (Craven) (role as Studio Executive)

Publications

By CORMAN: book—

How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, with Jim Jerome, New York, 1990.

By CORMAN: articles—

Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1963.

Midi-Minuit Fantastique (Paris), no. 10–11, 1965.

Image et Son (Paris), March 1967.

"A Letter from Roger Corman," in Take One (Montreal), July-August 1968.

Interview in The Film Director as Superstar, by Joseph Gelmis, New York, 1970.

Interview with Joe Medjuck, in Take One (Montreal), July-August 1970.

Interview with Philip Strick, in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1970.

Interview with Charles Goldman, in Film Comment (New York), Fall 1971.

Séquences (Montreal), October 1974.

Millimeter (New York), December 1975.

Interview with Bill Davidson, in New York Times Magazine, 28 December 1975.

Interview in Journal of Popular Film (Washington, D.C.), vol. 5, no. 3–4, 1976.

Interview in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), January 1979.

Interviews in Ecran Fantastique (Paris), no. 18, 1981, and May 1984.

Interview in Films and Filming (London), November 1984.

Interview with Robin Wood and Richard Lippe, in Movie (London), Winter 1986.

Interview in Film Comment (New York), July-August 1988.

Interview in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), no. 463, January 1993.

Interview with Mark A. Miller, in Filmfax (Evanston), July-August 1995.

Interview with Edward L. Mitchell, in Filmfax (Evanston), May-June 1996.

On CORMAN: books—

Willemen, Paul, David Pirie, David Will, and Lynda Myles, RogerCorman: The Millenic Vision, Edinburgh, 1970.

McCarthy, Todd, and Charles Flynn, editors, King of the Bs, New York, 1975.

Turroni, Guiseppe, Roger Corman, Florence, 1976.

di Franco, J. Philip, The Movie World of Roger Corman, New York, 1979.

Hillier, Jim, and Aaron Lipstadt, Roger Corman's New World, London, 1981.

Naha, Ed, The Films of Roger Corman, New York, 1982.

Bourgoin, Stéphane, Roger Corman, Paris, 1983.

McGee, Mark Thomas, The Story of American International Pictures, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1984.

Morris, Gary, Roger Corman, Boston, 1985.

Ottoson, Robert, American International Pictures, New York and London, 1985.

McGee, Mark Thomas, Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1988.

Ray, Fred Olen, The New Poverty Row, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1991.

Frank, Alan, The Films of Roger Corman: 'Shooting My Way out ofTrouble', New York, 1998.

Gray, Beverly, Roger Corman, Los Angeles, 2000.

Silver, Alain and James Ursini, Roger Corman: Metaphysics ona Shoestring, Los Angeles, 2000.

On CORMAN: articles—

Monthly Film Bulletin (London), vol. 31, 1964.

Positif (Paris), March 1964.

Dyer, Peter John, "Z Films" in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1964.

Midi-Minuit Fantastique (Paris), no. 1, 1965.

Film (London), no. 43, 1965.

French, Philip, "Incitement against Violence" in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1967–68.

Wallace, Eric in Screen Education (London), July-August 1968.

Jeune Cinéma (Paris), February 1969.

Action (Los Angeles), July-August 1969.

Montage (London), April 1970.

Diehl, Digby, in Show (New York), May 1970.

Ecran Fantastique (Paris), December 1970.

Koszarski, Richard, in Film Comment (New York), Fall 1971.

Ciné Revue (Paris), 5 February 1976.

National Film Theatre booklets (London), December 1976 and January 1977.

Avant-Scène (Paris), 15 May 1980.

National Film Theatre booklet (London), February 1981.

Chute, David, in Film Comment (New York), March-April 1982.

"Corman Issue" of Cinema Nuovo (Turin), January-February 1984.

Goldstein, Patrick, in American Film (Washington, D.C.) January-February 1985.

Newman, Kim, "The Roger Corman Alumni Association," in MonthlyFilm Bulletin (London), November and December 1985.

Strick, Philip, "The Return of Roger Corman," in Films and Filming (London), March 1986.

Hillier, Jim, and Aaron Lipstadt, "The Economics of Independence: Roger Corman and New World Pictures 1970–80," in Movie (London), Winter 1986.

Hollywood Reporter, 26 March 1987.

Exline, P., "King of the B's," in American Film (Washington, D.C.), September 1987.

Dixon, W., article in Postscript (Commerce, Texas), Fall 1988.

Bourgoin, S., and F. Guerif, article in Revue du Cinéma (Paris), September 1989.

Garsault, A., article in Positif (France), February 1990.

Solman, G., "Roger Corman," in Millimeter, May 1990.

Peary, Gerald, "Roger Corman: They Call Him Cheap, Quick, and 'America's Greatest Independent Filmmaker,"' in American Film, June 1990.

Combs, R., article in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1990/91.

Pede, R., and D. DuFour, article in Film en Televisie (Bruxelles, Belgium), May-June 1991.

Bohlin, L., and L. Holmstrom, article in Filmrutan (Sweden), 1992.

Liberti, F., "Il cinema di Roger Corman," in Cineforum (Bergamo), January-February 1993.

Prudente, Rosaria, in Cinema Nuovo (Bari), January-February 1993.

Soria, G., "Comix," in Film Threat (Beverly Hills), February 1996.

Biodrowski, S., "Roger Corman," in Cinefantastique (Forest Park), vol. 27:36, no. 8, 1996.

Bacal, S., "Horror Camp Fire Burns," in Variety (New York), 4/10 March 1996.

Marsilius, Hans Jörg, in Film-Dienst (Cologne), 9 April 1996.

Alford, H., "The Merchant of Venice," in Vanity Fair (New York), April 1996.

Atkinson, M., "Corman's Children," in Village Voice (New York), 10 September 1996.

Klady, L. "Corman Feted by L.A. Crix," in Variety (New York), 28 October/3 November 1996.

Scapperotti, D., "Roger Corman Presents," in Cinefantastique (Forest Park), vol 27, no. 7, 1996.

Oosterom, Chris and René Wolf, in Skrien (Amsterdam), February-March 1997.

On CORMAN: film—

The Roger Corman Special (for TV), 1995.

Grand master and patron saint of the American exploitation film, Roger Corman has forged a reputation for creative filmmaking on means so minimal as to seem absurd. He began his career in the mid-1950s producing and directing Westerns, gangster movies, mythological "spectacles," teen pictures, and sci-fi/horror films distinguished largely by their five-digit budgets and shooting schedules as short as three days. By the early 1960s his business savvy and understanding of the developing "youth" market had made him the most valuable commodity at American International Pictures, and his shrewd innovations in production and distribution contributed substantially to that company's pre-eminence in the exploitation market.

Backhandedly dubbed by critics "the King of Schlock" and "the Orson Welles of Z-Pictures," Corman has become a symbol of the creativity available to those willing to accept the economic limitations of working outside the mainstream. As a producer, he was able to provide decisive career breaks for a number of actors (Jack Nicholson, Ellen Burstyn, Robert De Niro, Cindy Williams), screenwriters (Robert Towne), and directors (Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme) who were to rise toward the upper echelons of the New Hollywood. Meanwhile, Corman insisted on maintaining his own kingdom on the fringes. When AIP's growing budgets and pretenses began to tighten studio control over individual projects, Corman left and, in 1970, established his own studio, New World Pictures, which quickly usurped AIP's place in the exploitation field. Corman did not direct at New World, but instead exerted a decisive influence as producer, cultivating the drive-in/inner-city audience by developing specialized sub-genres (women's prison pictures; soft-core nurse/teacher films; hard-core action and horror movies) and a strict formula, requiring given amounts of violence, nudity, humor, and social commentary. The social element not only reflected Corman's own attitudes (a self-characterized "liberal to radical" politically, he independently financed his anti-racist The Intruder when no studio would put up the money), but also an understanding of the politically disfranchised groups which comprised the New World audience. At the same time, Corman used the company to provide some of the first intelligent American marketing of foreign "art films," accruing respectable successes with Bergman's Cries and Whispers, Fellini's Amarcord, Truffaut's Adele H., and Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala. Yet it would not be quite fair to dismiss Corman, as Andrew Sarris did in 1968, as a producer "miscast" as a director. Admittedly, at that time Corman's most accomplished, complex, and disturbing film, Bloody Mama, was still to be made. But Corman had hit his artistic stride in the early 1960s with a series of seven flamboyantly artificial color horror films, loosely based on Poe and ranging in tone from slightly tongue-in-cheek to openly parodic. The cycle peaked with Masque of the Red Death, which made ingenious use of imagery borrowed from Bergman's Seventh Seal, to the disbelief of American critics and the delight of the Europeans, who have always seemed willing to take Corman fairly seriously. Indeed, even in the 1950s Corman had learned to make artistic virtue of low-budget tawdriness, which contributed greatly to the existential bleakness of such tortured morality plays as Teenage Doll and Sorority Girl, and to the essential minimalism of the definitive black comedies Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors. Yet, even if one is unwilling to recognize the philosophical despair of the moralist struggling against nihilism which underlies the straight-faced lunacy of It Conquered the World, the visionary metaphysics of X (The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), and even the Urbiker picture of the 1960s, The Wild Angels, Corman's audacious independence has at least earned him the right to symbolize the myriad contradictions between artistic ambition and fiscal responsibility which seem inherent to commercial filmmaking.

Circumstances caused Corman to put his directorial career in the deep freeze in 1971. A rare foray into TV with What's in It for Harry (1969) had resulted in a film rejected as too violent by ABC, which released the film theatrically without a Corman credit. Studio interference with his youth movement paean, Gas-s-s-s (1970), eased his break with long-term home-base AIP, but he fared even worse when United Artists slashed his pet World War I drama, Von Richthofen and Brown (1971), into unrecognizability. It was critical savagery of the latter that drove him to assume mogul status full-time by forming New World Pictures, where he served as mentor to Ron Howard, Jonathan Kaplan, John Sayles, and Joe Dante, among others.

After selling New World Pictures in 1983 and then suing the purchasers for reneging on a distribution agreement, Corman returned to the pre-sold production whirl with a new outfit, Concorde/New Horizons. Although Corman is still a vital, hands-on moviemaker and a godsend to untried auteurs, his current product is indistinguishable from other direct-to-video fodder. In addition to expanding into family escapism and sexploitation noirs, Corman has been remaking his AIP classics for Showtime, along with some cable-TV originals like Runaway Daughters and Suspect Device, but none of these Cormanized revamps and remakes demonstrates the verve of the compact originals.

Cleverly conceived and infused with an undertow of nostalgic tristesse, Corman's directorial comeback, Frankenstein Unbound, is truly a monster movie for the backward-glancing 1990s. Responsible for precipitating an apocalypse in the future through his unchecked experimentations, a scientist travels back to the nineteenth century, where he tries to bridle Victor Frankenstein's excesses as a mea culpa for his own God-complex.

A cinematic Victor Frankenstein, Corman goes on robbing genre graveyards to bring new life to exploitation filmmaking. While Corman is irreplaceable as a studio chief, his Frankenstein Unbound is idiosyncratic enough to raise hopes for an occasional slumming into personal expression. An unselfish artist with a healthy respect for profits, Corman genuinely gets gratification out of his hired guns' success stories, and this shining example of vicarious creativity may be the only producer in Hollywood history who could be considered a father figure. As a cinematic icon, Corman's cameo appearances in his protegee's blockbusters like Godfather: Part Two, Philadelphia, and Apollo 13 reveal a soft-spoken, mysterious man with immense powers of focus; he looks like the archetypical American loner who simply gets the job done.

—Ed Lowry, updated by Robert J. Pardi

Roger Corman

Roger Corman (born 1926), a filmmaker with several hundred films to his credit, has rightly been called the "King of the B Movies." His low-budget films made for Hollywood studios included one of the first "biker" movies, The Wild Angels, as well as numerous horror films based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Since 1970 Corman has operated successful independent film production and distribution companies.

Roger Corman's childhood gave few clues that, in later years, he would create hundreds of low-budget films that would make him one of Hollywood's best-known directors. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 5, 1926, the first child of European immigrants William and Ann Corman; his brother Gene (who also became a producer) was born 18 months later. As a child Corman was more interested in sports and building model airplanes than in film. William Corman, an engineer, was forced to take a huge pay cut during the Great Depression that began in 1929. In his autobiography, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, Corman speculated that this event might have caused him to be so thrifty when making films.

The family moved to the "poor side" of Beverly Hills, California, while Corman was in high school. He became fascinated with the stories of Edgar Allan Poe (asking for a complete set of Poe's works as a gift), but he planned to become an engineer like his father. After graduating from high school, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University and participated in the Navy's officer training program. In 1947, Corman graduated from Stanford and, after several months of unemployment, took an engineering job. He realized immediately that this was not the work for him, and quit the first week. Through a family friend he was hired as a messenger at Twentieth Century Fox. His lifelong career in the film industry had begun, to be interrupted only briefly in 1949, when he became irritated with studio bureaucracy and spent a year studying and traveling in Europe.

Early Films Set Pattern

While working in Hollywood as a literary agent after returning from Europe, Corman also began to write screenplays. He sold his first screenplay, Highway Dragnet, to Allied Artists in 1953 and also became the film's associate producer. The next year Corman used the money he made from this work to finance his first independently produced film, The Monster from the Ocean Floor. In this film, Corman established the pattern that would characterize his later work: an incredibly low budget (generally under $100,000, unusual even in those days); a fast shooting schedule (often two weeks or less); and a set theme. Monsters, aliens, supernatural villains, and other frightening characters almost always lay at the heart of Corman's films.

During the next five years Corman produced or directed more than 30 films for American International Pictures (AIP), sometimes completing six or more films per year. These included cult horror classics such as The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955), It Conquered the World (1956), The Day the World Ended (1956), and The Brain Eaters (1958). He also branched out into gangster films, as in 1958's Machine Gun Kelly (starring Charles Bronson); westerns, beginning with 1955's Five Guns West ; and teen-oriented films, with flimsy plots but catchy titles like Teenage Doll (1957) and Rock All Night (1957).

Always looking for ways to cut costs, Corman frequently acted in these films when more actors were needed, and others on the set also pitched in to play characters or trade jobs when necessary. As pointed out by Greg Villepique in Salon, Corman also injected a great deal of slightly bizarre wit into his films. For instance, when the evil coed in 1957's Sorority Doll is discovered beating up one of the pledges, she protests, "All I did was spank her a little."

Series of Horror Classics Followed

In 1959 Corman directed one of his best-known horror classics, A Bucket of Blood. Walter Paisley (a character who returns in later Corman films) is a busboy in a beatnik coffeehouse, who discovers a hidden "talent" for sculpture when he coats a neighbor's dead cat in plaster. When there is a demand for more of his work, he takes the obvious Corman route and human "sculptures" start to appear (as people in the neighborhood also start to disappear). A Bucket of Blood, shot in only five days, introduced a decade of similar films from Corman. He followed up with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), in which the main human character Seymour Krelboin, an assistant in a florist shop, takes second billing to Audrey Jr., a giant blood-eating plant. Audrey Jr. spends much of the film crying out "Feed me!" and growing leaves that bear the faces of the people Seymour has killed to obtain blood. After rehearsing for three days, Corman completed filming in a mere two days, perhaps a record for a feature film. In his autobiography, Corman confessed that he had been told by AIP to make a film for less than $50,000, and so created Bucket; when it was a success, he "did Little Shop in two days on a leftover set just to beat my speed record." Little Shop was notable for featuring newcomer Jack Nicholson as a masochistic undertaker. (In 1982, it also was adapted into an award-winning stage musical.)

Based on the success of Bucket and Little Shop, Corman found himself in an unusual position. AIP gave him larger budgets and he was able to spend more time shooting his films. He embarked on some of his most famous films, a series based on stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe and starring Vincent Price. Outstanding among these were Corman's first technicolor films, The Fall of the House ofUsher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), and The Tomb of Ligeia (1965). For Masque, Corman reused elaborate castle sets from the historical epic Beckett. The film's cinematographer, Nicholas Roeg, created a surrealistic atmosphere that he later used in his own films, such as Don't Look Now. 1963's The Raven, based on a poem by Poe, starred Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Jack Nicholson, and was a horror-comedy that had no clear story line. After The Raven was completed, Corman decided to reuse the castle sets for another quick film before tearing them down, and got Karloff to stay for two more days to shoot The Terror, costarring Jack Nicholson and directed by Nicholson and Francis Ford Coppola. However, it took several months after Karloff's departure to piece together the film; Corman called it the longest production of his career, but also said it was "a classic story of how to make a film out of nothing."

During the civil unrest of the late twentieth century, Corman (an acknowledged liberal) nevertheless remained devoted to the apolitical film subjects that had made him famous. In his Salon article, Villepique discussed one of the only films in which Corman explored a political subject. 1962's film The Intruder starred William Shatner as a Northern racist who travels south to fight school integration. Corman himself went to the Deep South to shoot the film, and used local residents as film extras without revealing how critical the film was of civil rights opponents. He and his crew just managed to finish the film before being ordered out of town by the local police. The Intruder was a failure in theaters, even after he gave it a new name more typical of his films, I Hate Your Guts!

Some of Corman's other films of the 1960s focused on characters who later became stereotypes of that decade's lifestyles. The Wild Angels (1966) was one of the first films to look at "biker" culture; it featured little-known actors Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra. Another low-budget production, The Wild Angels was extremely violent for its time. However, it not only won a prestigious award at the Venice Film Festival, but also paid for itself many times over, grossing more than $25 million. 1967's The Trip, a pioneer psychedelic film, was starred in and written by Jack Nicholson. Other notable Corman films of the 1960s and early 1970s included Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), Bloody Mama (1970), starring Shelley Winters as the mother of an outlaw gang, and Women in Cages (1971).

Founded Independent Film Companies

Corman, whose films still were considered low-budget but now often cost two million dollars, became increasingly frustrated with what he considered the wastefulness and excessive interference of the major Hollywood studios. In 1970, he established New World Pictures, which immediately turned a profit and soon became the country's largest independent film distribution company. New World continued to produce Corman staple items like Candy Stripe Nurses. But the profits from these films also enabled New World to distribute art films by noted directors such as Francois Truffault and Federico Fellini.

In 1983 Corman decided to stop distributing films so that he could devote more attention to producing them. He sold New World and set up a new company, Concorde-New Horizons, which devoted itself largely to producing horror and martial arts films for distribution to theaters and a cable television series, "Roger Corman Presents." Corman has lived in Santa Monica, California, with his wife Julie Corman (also a producer), for many years. He continues to provide his fans with installments of Alien Avengers and other films with the typical Corman features.

Despite his nickname, "King of the B Movies," Corman's films nevertheless have received critical acclaim in addition to their ongoing popularity with filmgoers. His awards have ranged from a Golden Lion at the 1966 Venice Film Festival to the Career Achievement Award of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (1996). Perhaps one of the most distinguished features of Corman's long career has been his ability to recognize young screen talent. Among the future film stars who worked with Corman early in their careers were Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Talia Shire, and Diane Ladd; and directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, John Sayles, and James Cameron.

Corman has retained a fondness for the early horror films that established his career. In How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, Corman confessed that, of the more than 300 films that he produced or directed, Creature From the Haunted Sea (1961) had his favorite ending. In this film, a mobster/sea captain murders a group of smugglers, steals their chest of gold, and then claims they were devoured by a sea monster. "We have always killed off our monsters," said Corman. "This time, the monster wins." He insisted on a final scene that showed the sea monster on the ocean floor, sitting on the chest of gold and happily munching on a stack of skeletons.

Books

Corman, Roger, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, Da Capo Press, 1998.

McGee, Mark Thomas, Roger Corman, the Best of the Cheap Acts, McFarland, 1988.

Periodicals

Entertainment Weekly, May 19, 1995.

Forbes, April 15, 1991.

Online

"Biography of Roger Corman," Concorde Pictures,http://www.concordepictures.com(November 7, 2000).

"Roger Corman," Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com(November 3, 2000).

"Roger Corman," Salon,http://www.salonmag.com/people/bc/2000/06/13/corman(November 7, 2000). □