George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero Jr. (/rəˈmɛəroʊ/; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian film director, writer, editor and actor. His Night of the Living Dead series of films about a zombie apocalypse began with the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) and is considered a major contributor to the image of the zombie in modern culture. Other films in the series include Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).[1]
George A. Romero
July 16, 2017 (aged 77)
- Godfather of the Dead
- Father of the Zombie Film
- United States
- Canada
1960–2017
Films based on an imagined zombie apocalypse
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Nancy Romero(m. 1971; div. 1978)
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Suzanne Desrocher(m. 2011)
3
Romero later revived his attachment to the sub-genre with Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2009), his final film. Aside from this series, his works include The Crazies (1973), Martin (1977), Knightriders (1981), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1993), and Bruiser (2000). He also created and executive-produced the television series Tales from the Darkside from 1983 to 1988. Romero is often described as an influential pioneer of the horror film genre and has been called the "Father of the Zombie Film" and an "icon".[2][3]
Early life[edit]
Romero was born on February 4, 1940, in the New York City borough of the Bronx, the son of Anne Romero (Dvorsky) and George M. Romero, a commercial artist.[4] His mother was Lithuanian, and his father was from Spain but had immigrated to Cuba as a child.[5][6] His father has been reported as being born in A Coruña, with his family coming from the Galician town of Neda,[7][8] although Romero once described his father as of Castilian descent.[9]
Raised in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, he would frequently ride the subway into Manhattan to rent film reels to view at his house.[10] He was one of only two people who repeatedly rented the opera-based film The Tales of Hoffmann, the other was future director Martin Scorsese.[11] Romero attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.[12]
Personal life[edit]
Romero was married three times. He married his first wife, Nancy, in 1971. They divorced in 1978. They had one child together, Cameron, who later became a filmmaker.[58]
Romero met his second wife, actress Christine Forrest, on the set of Season of the Witch (1973), and they married in 1981.[59] She had bit parts in most of his films. They had two children together, Andrew and Tina Romero. The couple divorced in 2010 after three decades of marriage.
Romero met Suzanne Desrocher while filming Land of the Dead (2005), and they married in September 2011 at Martha's Vineyard and lived in Toronto.[60] He acquired Canadian citizenship in 2009, becoming a dual Canada-U.S. citizen.[61]
Death[edit]
On July 16, 2017, Romero died following a "brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer", according to a statement by his longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. Romero died while listening to the score of one of his favorite films, The Quiet Man (1952), with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter from his second marriage, Tina Romero, at his side.[62]
Influences[edit]
Romero ranked his top ten films of all time for the 2002 Sight & Sound Greatest Films Poll. They are The Brothers Karamazov, Casablanca, Dr. Strangelove, High Noon, King Solomon's Mines, North by Northwest (a film on which a teenaged Romero worked as a gofer), The Quiet Man, Repulsion, Touch of Evil and The Tales of Hoffmann. Romero listed the films in alphabetical order, with special placement given to Michael Powell's The Tales of Hoffmann, which he cites as "my favorite film of all time, the movie that made me want to make movies."[63]
Awards and nominations[edit]
On October 27, 2009, Romero was honored with the Mastermind Award at Spike TV's Scream 2009. The tribute was presented by longtime Romero fan Quentin Tarantino, who stated in his speech that the "A" in George A. Romero stood for "A Fucking Genius."[64]
Interviews