King of the B-Movies Roger Corman gets Academy Award!
The B- Movie maven who redefined mass marketing in the 1950s with such drive-in movies as A Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors for American International Pictures before launching into a series of classic color Edgar Allen Poe epics starring Vincent Price is being awarded filmdom;’s highest accolade.
Corman is receiving an honorary Oscar for a lifetime of achievement that includes mentoring young filmmakers as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron and Ron Howard and giving the young Jack Nicholson a paycheck. THAT and producing Death Race 2000 with David Carradine!
"I predicted that I would not win because I make low-budget films, and I felt the academy would not give an award to someone who made low-budget films. I was truly surprised when I got the call," Corman, 83, said.
Not content to produce some 350 films over a career Roger also created the niche of independent distributing importing international classics from Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Francois Truffaut and Akira Kurosawa.
"I’m the great winner of awards at minor film festivals," Corman revealed.
"I’ve got a shelf at home filled with awards from festivals you never heard of."
"I’m the great winner of awards at minor film festivals," Corman said. "I’ve got a shelf at home filled with awards from festivals you never heard of."
Corman said the Oscar will "go in front".
