Jump to content

Gene Corman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gene Corman
Born
Eugene Harold Corman

(1927-09-24)September 24, 1927
DiedSeptember 28, 2020(2020-09-28) (aged 93)[1]
Occupations
  • Producer
  • agent
SpouseNan Corman
Children2
RelativesRoger Corman (brother)

Eugene Harold "Gene" Corman (September 24, 1927 – September 28, 2020) was an American film producer and agent. He was the younger brother of Roger Corman with whom he collaborated on several occasions.

Biography

[edit]

Corman attended Beverly Hills High School and Standford University. He graduated in 1948 and went to work in the mailroom at MCA, enterting the film industry before his brother. Corman became an agent and vice president of MCA, representing such clients as Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Richard Conte, Harry Belafonte, and Ray Milland. Corman also represented his brother negotiating the distribution deal for the latter's first film Monster from the Ocean Floor.[2]

Producer

[edit]

Corman moved into producing in the late 1950s, making a number of movies with Bernard L. Kowalski and Robert L. Lippert as well as his brother, Roger.[3] Corman brother films rarely took longer than two months to make;[4] they formed Filmgroup Productions in 1959.[2] He was known to test film titles out by informally surveying Hollywood high school students.[4]

Through the 1960s he produced several films that his brother directed, including Tower of London, The Premature Burial, The Secret Invasion, Target Harry and Von Richthofen and Brown.[3]

In 1970, he and Roger co-founded "the hugely successful independent company New World Pictures" according to The Hollywood Reporter.[5][6] During the early 1970s, Gene Corman also had his own producing unit at MGM. He later became vice-president of 20th Century Fox Television.[2]

According to Filmink "One of the side effects of Roger Corman’s fame was the relegation of his producer brother Gene, to the shadows of film history. This was both unfair and unfortunate since Gene not only played a crucial, often overlooked part in his brother’s story, he had a fine career of his own."[3]

In 1982, he won the Outstanding Drama Special Emmy for A Woman Called Golda.[6]

Filmography

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gene Corman, Producer and Brother of Roger Corman, Dies at 93
  2. ^ a b c Weaver, Tom (2000). Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews. McFarland. ISBN 9780786407552.
  3. ^ a b c Vagg, Stephen (18 May 2024). "Top Ten Corman – Part Five, Gene Corman". Filmink.
  4. ^ a b "Making a million out of monsters". Australian Women's Weekly. 1958-09-10. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  5. ^ Barnes, Mike (2020-10-09). "Gene Corman, Producer and Brother of Roger Corman, Dies at 93". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  6. ^ a b "Gene Corman". Television Academy. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
[edit]