American writer and motion picture director known for his numerous low-budget, sensationalistic films and his technical skills.
Corman graduated from Beverly Hills High School and then studied engineering at Stanford University in California where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1947. After a stint in the Navy, he entered the movie business as a messenger for Twentieth Century-Fox studios and was a story analyst by 1949. Disenchanted with studio procedures, he took a detour at Oxford University to study English literature in 1950. He worked briefly as a literary agent upon his return to the U.S.
He said his engineering training served him well in making low-budget films on a tight schedule. Allied Artists bought his first screenplay, “Highway Dragnet” in 1953 and served as associate producer on the film. With the earnings from his first screenplay, Corman made his first film an as independent producer, “The Monster from the Ocean Floor,” the following year with a budget of only $18,000. He directed his first films in 1955: “Five Guns West” and “Apache Woman.” He went on the make five films in 1956 and nine in 1957, becoming one of the most prolific makers of the low-budget exploitation films by 1960.
His first critical attention came for his macabre film versions of Edgar Allen Poe’s works starring Vincent Price, starting with “The House of Usher” in 1960. He continued with several other Poe stories and then moved on to other more violent horror films that nonetheless won him commercial success and some critical acclaim. He became more ambitious and made a serious film about school desegregation called, “The Intruder.”
He officially retired from directing in 1971 to concentrate on production and distribution of films through his New World Pictures, founded in 1970. A documentary about his life, “Roger Corman – Hollywood’s Wild Angel,” was made and released in 1978. In 1983 he sold New World Pictures, enabling him to continue producing more films without all the management responsibilities of a huge distribution company. The day after he sold New World, he announced the formation of his new company, Concorde-New Horizons. He released five new films that year including “Screwballs,” “Space Raiders” and “Love Letters.” For the cable television Showtime channel show “Roger Corman Presents,” he showcased films such as “Alien Avengers,” and “Vampirella.” He came out of retirement to direct “Frankenstein Unbound” in 1990.
Corman wrote his autobiography, “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime” in 1990 with Jim Jerome. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife, Julie Corman, a movie producer herself and their four children. He is the brother of producer Gene Corman.
Link to Wikipedia biography