George Romero

4 February, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor, actor and composer.

He was born and grew up in New York City, and attended Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. After graduation, he began shooting mostly short films and commercials. He and friends formed Image Ten Productions in the late 1960s and they all chipped in roughly $10,000 apiece to produce what became one of the most celebrated horror films of all time, which he had written together with Night of the Living Dead (1968). The movie became a cult classic in the 1970s.

Romero's next films were less popular: There's Always Vanilla (1971), The Crazies (1973), Season of the Witch (1973) and Martin (1978). Though not as acclaimed as Night of the Living Dead or some of his later work, these films had his signature social commentary while dealing with issues (usually horror-related) at the microscopic level. And like almost all of his films, they were shot in or around Romero's favorite city of Pittsburgh.

In 1978, Romero returned to the zombie genre with Dawn of the Dead (1978). Shot on just $1.5 million, the film earned over $40m worldwide and was named one of the top cult films by Entertainment Weekly in 2003.

The decline of Romero's career came in the late 1980s. His last majorly-released film was the final piece of the Dead trilogy, Day of the Dead (movie) (1985).

In 2004, the Universal-produced remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD was released and was a box-office hit, though critics in general prefered the original Romero film.

Romero still lives in Pittsburgh, and had announced plans to film his 4th "Dead" movie Land of the Dead there in October 2004, but instead will be filmed primarily in Toronto. The $16 million production(highest-production budget ever in Romero's career) recently announced the casting of actor Dennis Hopper in the film.

Filmography

1. The Ill, 2004
2. Bruiser, 2000
3. The Dark Half, 1993
4. Due occhi diabolici, 1990
5. Monkey Shines, 1988
6. Day of the Dead (movie), 1985
7. Tales from the Darkside, 1984 TV Series
8. Creepshow, 1982
9. Knightriders, 1981
10. Dawn of the Dead, 1978
11. Martin, 1978
12. 1974
13. The Winners, 1973 TV Series
14. Season of the Witch, 1973
15. The Crazies, 1973
16. There's Always Vanilla, 1971
17. Night of the Living Dead, 1968

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