Romero, George A. (1940-2017), was an American motion picture director who became famous for his movies that blended horror with social satire . Romero is best known for a series of horror films about zombies . Romero made six films about these terrifying corpses who rise from the dead to attack and eat living people. The success of Romero’s zombie films strongly influenced horror films in the later 1900’s and early 2000’s, and spread to television as well as novels and short stories.
Romero’s first zombie film and the first film he directed was Night of the Living Dead (1968). The story portrays a small group of people who take refuge in a farmhouse where they try to survive a zombie assault. The film shocked audiences of the time and soon was recognized as a horror classic. Romero directed a sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978), which takes place in an American shopping mall. In addition, he directed the zombie films Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2009). He was the screenwriter for the films and edited several of them.
Romero directed 15 feature-length films. Along with his zombie series, they included The Crazies (1973), Knightriders (1981), Creepshow (1982), The Dark Half (1993), and Bruiser (2000).
George Andrew Romero was born in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York, on Feb. 4, 1940. He graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1961, where he studied graphic arts. He learned the movie business by filming short subjects and TV commercials. Romero moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 2004. He became a Canadian citizen in 2009 while retaining his American citizenship. Romero died on July 16, 2017.
