Gene Corman

Gene Corman
Born	Eugene Harold Corman (1927-09-24)September 24, 1927 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	September 28, 2020(2020-09-28) (aged 93)[1] Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupations	Producer agent
Spouse	Nan Corman
Children	2
Relatives	Roger 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

Corman attended Beverly Hills High School and Standford University. He graduated in 1948 and went to work in the mailroom at MCA, entering 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

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

• I Mobster (1958)
• Hot Car Girl (1958)
• Night of the Blood Beast (1958)
• Beast from the Haunted Cave (1959)
• Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
• Valley of the Redwoods (1960)
• The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960)
• The Intruder (1962)
• The Tower of London (1962)
• The Secret Invasion (1964)
• The Girls on the Beach (1965)
• Ski Party (1965)
• Beach Ball (1965)
• Tobruk (1967)
• You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)
• Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)
• Cool Breeze (1972)
• Private Parts (1972)
• Hit Man (1972)
• The Slams (1973)
• I Escaped from Devil's Island (1973)
• Darktown Strutters (1975)
• Vigilante Force (1976)
• F.I.S.T. (1978)
• The Big Red One (1980)
• A Woman Called Golda (1982) (TV movie)
• Vital Parts (2001)

References

1. Gene Corman, Producer and Brother of Roger Corman, Dies at 93
2. 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. Vagg, Stephen (18 May 2024). "Top Ten Corman – Part Five, Gene Corman". Filmink.
4. "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. "Gene Corman". Television Academy. Retrieved 2024-12-04.

External links

• Gene Corman at IMDb