Iconic horror film-maker, of the Living Dead fame, Romero dies at 77

Often called the father or progenitor of the modern zombie movie, American film director George A. Romero has died of lung cancer, in Toronto. He was 77. George A. Romero passed away on Sunday July 16, listening to the score of The Quiet Man, one of his all-time favorite films, with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero at his side. He died peacefully in his sleep.

Born in The Bronx, to a Cuban-born father and a Lithuanian American mother, his first film, Night of the Living Dead (1968) has sustained its reputation as a patent, landmark venture, 50 years later. A case in point is the currently popular franchise, The Walking Dead (2010--).

Following the horror genre legend's passing, the writer and creator of the post apocalyptic Comic series and popular AMC TV drama series, Robert Kirkman paid respect to Romero on social media. "Without George A. Romero, there is no Walking Dead," Kirkman wrote in a tweet. "His inspiration cannot be overstated. He started it all, so many others followed."

George started experimenting with an 8 mm camera when he was 14. At the Carnegie-Mellon Institute, he studied art, design and drama. Soon, he set-up the Pittsburgh based Latent Image Company, through which he made industrial and advertising films. Two sequels followed the gory, creepy Night of the Living Dead: Dawn of the Dead (1979) and Day of the Dead (1985). Abounding in satire, both movies had the magic touch of make-up artist Tom Savini, who was also on board Martin (1978).

Unevenness plagued a lot of his later work, but his blood and gore style inspired makers like Brian De Palma, David Cronenberg and Wes Craven. He appeared on screen in the 1991 cannibal foray, The Silence of the Lambs. His last two films as director were Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead.

The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead (Directors' Cuts) First and 2nd Edition: In this comprehensive portrait of horror's definitive director, Tony Williams ties George A. Romero's films to the development of literary naturalism and American culture, expanding the artist's creative footprint beyond his mastery of the "splatter movie" genre.

Williams locates Romero's influences in the work of Emile Zola, the Entertainment Comics of the 1950s, and the novels of Stephen King, revealing the interdisciplinary depth of his seminal films Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and The Dark Half (1992). For this second edition, Williams reads Romero's Bruiser (2000) against his more recent Land of the Dead (2005) and takes a fresh look at Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), two overlooked films that feature Romero's greatest achievements yet.

“Just heard the news about George Romero. Hard to quantify how much he inspired me & what he did for cinema. Condolences to his family,” “Hostel” director Eli Roth said on Twitter. "Romero used genre to confront racism 50 years ago. He always had diverse casts, with Duane Jones as the heroic star of NOTLD. Very few others in cinema were taking such risks. He was both ahead of his time and exactly what cinema needed at that time. You can trace a direct line from NOTLD to Get Out. And...Romero created the modern zombie. The infectious bite. Shoot the head. Everything.”

Zack Snyder tweeted: “The world has lost a master. Thank you for the inspiration. You changed my life with your art. You will be missed.”

Stephen King ✔ @StephenKing

“Sad to hear my favorite collaborator--and good old friend--George Romero has died. George, there will never be another like you.”

The Hollywood Walk of Fame selected Romero for this year’s honours.

“The Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2017 are:

In the category of MOTION PICTURES:

Amy Adams, Jason Bateman, Goldie Hawn, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Pratt, Brett Ratner, Ryan Reynolds, George A. Romero, Mark Ruffalo and Rita Wilson’.

And here is Romero himself, tweeting about being given his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: George A. Romero

30 June 2016 ·

“I'm honored to be among the 2017 Hollywood Walk of Fame inductees! Thank you to everyone for all your support and lobbying.”

Sadly, Romero will not be around to see that star sign.

The stars had something else in store for him.