Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking Beverly Gray Renaissance Books/St. Martin’s Press reviewed by Tim Cogshell The most interesting things in Beverly Gray’s unauthorized biography of the aloof “B movie” pioneer Roger Corman are the appendices. They include a detailed Corman filmography, listing each movie in which the veteran producer-director-screenwriter-actor has a credit, dividing them chronologically and by production company and distributor. A second appendix lists the equally vast associates of the Corman family of filmmakers, what author Gray calls “Friends and Alumni of the Roger Corman School of Filmmaking,” detailing their association with Corman, including which of his many projects they worked on and in what capacity, as well as their own notable achievements since graduation. That list alone is deserving of publication. It features names like Samuel Arkoff (co-owner of American Pictures International, Corman’s long-time distributor), director-actor Paul Bartel, directors Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Frances Ford Coppola, Carl Franklin and Martin Scorsese, actresses Talia Shire and Pam Grier, actors Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Sylvester Stallone and many, many other notable and award-winning journeyman craft-people, all owing in one way or another their starts in Hollywood to the man who never lost a dime on a movie. Author Gray is herself an alum of the Corman School, having worked for the still productive filmmaker in the early ’70s and then again from 1983 thru 1994 as a story editor, development executive and occasional screenwriter before being “lovingly moved out” to make room for a less expensive replacement—an event certainly in keeping with Corman’s infamous reputation as a generous but frugal moviemaker. Though she insists that her parting from Corman was amiable, one must always be a little suspicious of a former employee, particularly one that did not intend to become a former employee, when they write about their ex-employer… particularly in Hollywood. With that in mind, Gray’s unauthorized biography seems a balanced account of the venerable Hollywood icon, even if it does juxtapose the importance of his contributions against personal criticisms from various quarters rather oddly. Her book is full of accounts (all documented by date and referenced) of Corman the spend-thrift, Corman the tough negotiator, Corman the exaggerator and Corman the chameleon, an enigmatic figure with multiple personas he could apply to any situation. While each of these accounts of the man who launched the careers of many of Hollywood’s best filmmakers may very well be true, they are — none of them — outside the pale of general Hollywood myth and lore. Indeed, some might argue that these are the traits required to be successful in the business of filmmaking. In general, Gray’s take on her mentor can be summed up in a quote she got from another Corman alum, director Joe Dante (Gremlins, Matinee) on Nov. 5, 1998 (she is very painstaking about dates): “It’s not an accident that none of the books about [Corman] have really captured him as a person, because he’s very guarded, and I don’t know how many people can say they really, truly know Roger.” Suffice to say that while Gray’s Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking is generally interesting, full of facts, dates, personal accounts and perceptions of the great filmmaker, it does not penetrate the Corman mystic anymore than previous attempts (including Ed Naha’s solid 1982 tome, The Films of Roger Corman: Brilliance on a Budget). It is, however, a solid chronicling of the life and career of a man who probably changed and inspired the history of Hollywood and lives of more people in the business than any other single person… all without losing a dime. (http://www.ent-today.com/9-29/book.htm)