Film & TV
Roger Corman
1926–2024 · film director and producer
Detroit-born king of low-budget cinema who produced or directed hundreds of films and gave first breaks to Coppola, Scorsese, Cameron and many more.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Santa Monica, California
aged 98- Birth name
- Roger William Corman
- Also known as
- The Pope of Pop Cinema · The King of the B's
- Detroit years
- 1926–1940
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Roger Corman was born in Detroit in 1926 to Anne and William Corman, a civil engineer, and spent his early childhood in the city before the family moved to California; he went to Beverly Hills High School and studied industrial engineering at Stanford. After Navy service he worked his way from studio messenger to independent producer, and from the mid-1950s turned out fast, cheap, inventive pictures such as A Bucket of Blood, The Little Shop of Horrors and a celebrated cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations starring Vincent Price. Through New World Pictures he also distributed Fellini, Bergman, Truffaut and Kurosawa in the United States. His greatest legacy may be people: Francis Ford Coppola (another Detroit native), Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard and James Cameron all got early chances from him. He received an honorary Academy Award in 2009 and died in Santa Monica in 2024, aged 98.
Highlights
- Produced or directed more than 500 features, many now cult classics
- Directed eight Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, starting with House of Usher (1960)
- Gave early breaks to Coppola, Scorsese, Demme, Howard and Cameron
- Honorary Academy Award, 2009