George A. Romero never set out to become a Hollywood figure; by all indications, though, he was very successful. The director of the groundbreaking "Living Dead" films was born February 4, 1940 ,in New York City to Ann . George died on July 16, 2017, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was 77.
Education: Carnegie-Mellon Institute (art, theatre, design), Pittsburgh, PA.
Prior to Night of the Living Dead he was better known as an industrial filmmaker, who created TV commercials, promotional featurettes and industrial training films. One of his assignments was to shoot short films that were used in the TV series "MisteRogers Neighborhood" .
Was slated to direct a theatrical version of Stephen King s novel "The Stand," adapted for the screen by Rospo Pallenberg. The film never materialized. Instead, the novel was adapted into a TV mini-series, "The Stand" .
Frequently cast African-Americans as the heroes of his films, although the parts werent usually written specifically for any particular race, going against the stereotype of the black character dying early in horror films.
In 1968 he re-invented the horror genre with his Night of the Living Dead , a cult classic that made its way onto the prestigious National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
The 2002 Sight & Sound Greatest Films Poll listed his Top Ten films as The Brothers Karamazov , Casablanca , Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb , High Noon (1952) , King Solomons Mines , North by Northwest , The Quiet Man (1952) , Repulsion , Touch of Evil , and The Tales of Hoffmann .
Originally set to direct Pet Sematary , but when filming was delayed he dropped out and Tom Savini was given the opportunity to direct the film. Savini also eventually passed on it. Finally, Mary Lambert stepped in.
Began making movies at the age of 14 with an 8mm camera.
Dawn of the Dead , the remake of his movie Dawn of the Dead , was released before the fourth part of his zombie series Land of the Dead was even filmed.
Became a Canadian citizen in 2009 and resides in Toronto, Ontario.
Was originally set to direct two Stephen King stories that would later turn into TV features: Salems Lot & "The Stand" .
Father of Tina Romero and George Cameron Romero.
When discussing his influences, he has aid that the Universal horror classics made a strong impression on him and his favorite horror film as a child was The Thing from Another World . However, the film he said made him want to be a director was The Red Shoes . While discussing the directors who made a strong impression on him, he said that Orson Welles and Howard Hawks were his favorites, surpassing Alfred Hitchcock.
Was originally attached to write and direct Resident Evil , but left the project in 1999 due to creative differences over the script.
Georges father, Jorge Romero, was from a family from A Corua, Galicia, Spain, and was of Castilian descent. He moved to Cuba as a child. Georges mother, Ann (Dvorsky), was Lithuanian, and was the daughter of Vincent Dvorsky and Mary Shadrik.
Was a big fan of The Archers (aka the British team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger ) movie The Tales of Hoffmann , based on Jacques Offenbach s operetta. He was interviewed at length about his love for the film and especially its artistic direction, use of color and use of fantasy/horror themes in a special feature included on the Criterion Collections 2005 DVD release of the film. Before videotape and DVD versions of the film were available, Romero would frequently rent a 16mm copy--as would Martin Scorsese , he subsequently learned, from the very same New York City rental company. Alas, Romero reported that the two fans have not yet become aware of each other.
The Tales of Hoffmann inspired Romero to become a director.
At age 19 he worked briefly as a page-boy on the set of North by Northwest . He later said he was unimpressed by Alfred Hitchcock s directing style while there, saying that it seemed mechanical and passionless. Coincidentally, Romero and North by Northwest co-star Martin Landau died one day apart.
His favorite of his own films, saying its closest to the vision he had for it, is Martin . He spent much of the time since his smash directorial debut, Night of the Living Dead , trying to distance himself from the horror genre but has said the satisfying experience of creating "Martin" energized him to make Dawn of the Dead , which would become his greatest financial and critical success.
He was known for his affability and remaining good friends with former collaborators with whom he had ceased collaboration due to creative or financial reasons.
Spent the years between The Dark Half and Bruiser working on several projects which never escaped from development hell.
According to his former producing partner Richard P. Rubinstein on the DVD commentary of Dawn of the Dead (The Extended Cut Version), he had offered Romero the opportunity to make his fourth zombie in the early 90s. Rubinstein offered Romero $3 million and he could make the film however he wanted it. However, Romero was at the time developing the scripts for The Mummy for Universal and the ghost story "Before I Wake" for MGM. He decided that he wanted to pursue those projects instead of his fourth zombie film. In the end, however, "Before I Wake" ended up in "development hell" and Universal decided to scrap his version and went with Stephen Sommers version. However, Romero finally made his fourth zombie film, Land of the Dead .
Had three children--George Cameron Romero (director of Staunton Hill --from his first marriage to Nancy Romero from 1974-78. Daughter Tina Romero and youngest son Andrew Romero (who are both in the club scene of Bruiser at the end of the film) are from his second marriage to Christine Forrest. Tina is a dancer on the side of the stage while The Misfits are playing; Andrew is a little devil with laser pointer rod riding on another characters shoulders.
If I fail, they [the film industry] write me off as another statistic.
If I succeed, they pay me a million bucks to fly out to Hollywood and,fart.
I always thought of the zombies as being about revolution, one,generation consuming the next.
