Roger Corman, Pioneering Independent Producer and King of B Movies, Dies at 98

[Ed Gordon]

Legendary B-movie king Roger Corman, who directed and produced hundreds of low-budget films and discovered such future industry stars as Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, has died. He was 98.

Corman died May 9 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., surrounded by family members, the family confirmed to Variety.

“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that,'” the family said in a statement.

Full article: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/r...ie-1235999591/

Corman's World (2011). Documentary

[Mike Newell]

Can’t say he didn’t had a full life. He seem quite fit and active until recently. Apart, from the Poe movies with Vincent Price his best movie was The Intruder with William Shatner which as he stated was the only movie he lost money on.

[Osi Osgood]

Oh Corman, earl of Roger! What a gift to film-making was he! We're going to pull out "Battle Beyond the Stars" on blu-ray today, in honor of this great producer

[Mike Newell]

He was still making movies for 1.5 million a piece until recently. Yes 6-7 brilliant movies and about 300 💩ones. Least they all made money except 1. Gave a start to a lot of careers . Mind you that was because he got the cheap. Battle beyond the stars thats the remake of Magnificent Seven in space with Robert Vaughn in it? Roger made that to cash in on Star Wars success.

[Paul Adsett]

Thanks so much for posting that movie link Ed. I had never seen that before and thought it was just great. One thing that really shines through is that Roger Corman was beloved by the people that worked for him, obviously a really kind, intelligent and cultured gentleman - something one suspects to be pretty rare in the movie business.

[Osi Osgood]

Yes! We're watching it right now! And ... In honor of Roger, we're watching it with Rogers commentary! Roger, speaking from the grave! I think that he'd probably get a kick out of it! 😀

[Douglas Meltzer]

There's a decent amount of 8mm releases of Roger Corman movies.

It Conquered the World
The Undead
Night of the Blood Beast
Beast from the Haunted Cave
The Wasp Woman
Bucket of Blood
Little Shop of Horrors
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Raven
The Terror
Masque of the Red Death
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Death Race 2000

[Ed Gordon]

I am surprised the The Fall of the House of Usher did not make it to 8mm. It was one of the better films produced by Roger.

House of Usher Official Trailer #1 - Vincent Price Movie (1960) HD

[Osi Osgood]

Doug, was "Humanoids From The Deep", a digest, trailer or feature?

[Rob Koeling]

Also the "the black cat" sequence from Tales of Terror was released in the Netherlands.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Rob,

Thanks...missed that one.

Osi,

Oops! I am mistaken, having confused Humanoids from the Deep with Warlords of the Deep (Also known as Warlords of Atlantis, it went through a couple of title changes). Both are Doug McClure films, but Roger Corman did not produce Warlords. That one was an Iver Super 8 release. Sorry about the mistake.

[Mike Newell]

Also the "the black cat" sequence from Tales of Terror was released in the Netherlands.

I thought Tales of Terror were out there in super 8. I. Aguely remember it being on a dealer list.