Roger Corman, the B-movie legend best known as “The Pope of Pop Cinema,” has reportedly passed away at the age of 98.
According to Variety, Corman directed and produced hundreds of low-budget films over the years. He also discovered now well-known Hollywood stars including Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, William Shatner, and Robert De Niro. He passed away on May 9 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. The family confirmed that his loved ones were present at the time of his death.
“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic,” Cormna’s family shared in a statement. “And captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that.’”
After the news was announced, Shatner took to X (formerly Twitter) to pay tribute to Corman. “I knew you well during a time when shooting the film we were making was physically dangerous,” Shatner wrote. “And you were very brave. We had a good time, we did an exceptional movie and you were wonderful. RIP Love Bill.”
Among the films Roger Corman directed and produced were The Little Shop of Horrors, Death Race 2000, Gas-s-s-s, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Battle Beyond the Sun. He also won a Grammy in 1990 for Best Album Package for Sound + Vision with David Bowie. Although he retired from the film industry in 2004, he earned an honorary award at the 2010 Academy Awards.
Roger Corman was married to fellow film producer Julie Halloran from 1970 until his death. He is survived by Halloran and their four children.
Roger Corman Opens Up About Splitting From 20th Century Fox After He Didn’t Receive Credit For ‘The Gunfighter’
During a 2022 interview with AV Club, Roger Corman spoke about his “break-up” from 20th Century Fox. It was over not receiving credit for his contributions to the 1950 western film, The Gunfighter. The film was directed by Henry King and starred Gregory Peck, Hele Westcott, Millard Mitchell, and Jean Parker.
Pointing out that his degree was in engineering, Corman admitted to having very little knowledge of films at the time. “But from the beginning, I realized that the power laid partially with the producer and heavily with the director,” he explained. “And I started as a writer, and what got my career started was I sold a screenplay, and I realized at that time that credits are very important in Hollywood. So I just asked the producer if I could help him on the set and get an associate producer credit, which I did.”
Noting one film in his catalog that stood out to him, Roger Corman also said The Intruder. This is the first film he worked on with William Shatner. “It had to do with racial discrimination in the schools in the South. That got wonderful reviews and won a couple of minor film festivals—and it was the first film I ever made that lost money.”