LEGEND

B-Movie King Roger Corman Dies at 98

“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age,” his family said.

A prolific low-budget film director and producer who helped launch Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro to stardom has died at the age of 98. Roger Corman, the king of B-movies, passed away on May 9 at his home in Santa Monica, California, his 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,’” a statement from the family said. Corman’s career spanned more than half a century and he became the driving force behind the B-movie market, churning out low-budget movies that served as a springboard for greats like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Corman received the Producers Award from the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, the first time the award was presented.