George A. Romero, the man behind such groundbreaking films as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead among others, has died aged 77.
The legendary filmmaker's death, in his sleep, has been confirmed by his family. According to a statement, he'd been battling a “brief but aggressive” case of lung cancer. His wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, were by his side when he passed.
In the late 1960s, Romero formed a production company with a group of friends and produced Night of the Living Dead. Made for just $114,000, the 1968 movie became a cult classic and a benchmark moment in modern horror cinema. It went to take $30 million at the worldwide box office.
After a handful of less acclaimed films, in 1973 he released another horror classic, The Crazies, which he followed with vampire film, Martin five years later.
That same year he returned to the zombie genre and released Dawn of the Dead, a film made for just $500,000 but a box office hit with a worldwide take of over $55 million worldwide. He released his third entry in his Dead series of films, Day of the Dead, in 1985 but it was less successful taking $34 million on a $3.5 million budget.
It wasn’t until 20 years later, in 1990, that he returned to the genre with Land of the Dead, which starred Dennis Hopper and Simon Baker as well as Asia Argento. Costing $18.98 million to make, it took $47.75 million at the worldwide box office. He followed that with Diary of the Dead in 2007 and George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead in 2009 but they were less successful making $5.3 million and $101,740 at the box office respectively.
A number of his films, namely Day of the Dead - which Romero directed himself, Dawn of the Dead and The Crazies have been remade with mixed box office success and acclaim. Writer, producer and director Romero’s other notable films include cult favorite Knightriders, Creepshow, Monkey Shines and The Dark Half, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. Most recently he served as producer on George A. Romero Presents: Road of the Dead which he co-wrote with director Matt Birman. Romero also made appearances in and featured in, a number of films including many of his Dead films as well as The Silence of the Lambs.
A huge influence on horror movie making, and cinema and TV in general, Romero died of lung cancer on July 16, 2017, he was 77-years-old.
