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Roger Corman is truly one of America's most innovative and successful independent filmmakers. And one who certainly knows how to stretch a dollar. Corman brings his unique vision to Showtime this week with "Roger Corman Presents," a 13-week series of sci-fi and horror flicks. Corman is executive producer of the series.
Corman, 69, made a reputation for making movies quickly, efficiently and cheaply. In 1957 alone, he directed nine films. Some of those he made in just a couple of days. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Corman has produced 250-plus low-budget films and directed 50 others, including the cult classics "A Bucket of Blood," "Wasp Woman," "The Little Shop of Horrors," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Raven," "The Wild Angels" and "The Trip."
Jack Nicholson, Charles Bronson, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Joe Dante and Jonathan Demme are among the numerous actors and filmmakers who got their start with Corman.
After being the primary director at American International Pictures, Corman founded his own production and distribution company, New World Pictures, in 1970. It soon grew into the largest independent motion-picture distribution company in the United States. New World also released award-wining foreign films by Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa and Werner Herzog.
Corman sold New World Pictures in 1983 and formed the successful Concorde-New Horizons Corp., which has its studio in Venice. Among Concorde's recent releases are "White Wolves," "Carnosaur" and "Dillinger and Capone." In 1990, Corman penned (with Jim Jerome), his autobiography "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime."
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