Cult filmmaker Roger Corman dies aged 98

Legendary B-movie director Roger Corman has died aged 98.

The Oscar-winning trailblazer was known for directing a host of low-budget films, including The Little Shop of Horrors, and for discovering stars including Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson.

Corman passed away at his home in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by his loved ones on Thursday.

“His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age,” his family said in a statement confirming his death. “When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that.'”

Corman helped develop the talents of actors including De Niro and Nicholson, while also gave directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron early breaks in the industry.

The director, known as ‘King of the Bs’, gained a reputation for making movies quickly and often simultaneously worked on two projects in the same location to save money.

Many of his films became cult classics and the 1960 movie The Little Shop of Horrors, which featured a brief appearance by Nicholson, took just two days to shoot. In order to reduce costs, Corman used the set of his previous film A Bucket of Blood as the location for the movie.

Corman was born in Detroit on 5th April in 1926 and had intended to follow in the footsteps of his father who was an engineer.

However, after briefly working for General Motors he landed a job as a messenger boy at 20th Century Fox. He then briefly studied English Literature at Oxford University before returning to the US with a desire to become a screenwriter.

In the late 60s, Corman set up his own production company New World Pictures, and in 2009, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award.

During his career he worked with stars including William Shatner, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Nancy Sinatra, John Hurt and Bridget Fonda.