George Romero is dead. He was 77.
Let that sink in because this news sucks.
Romero started making amateur movies when he was just 14, and after he went to college in Pittsburg he ended up working on Mister Roger's Neighborhood.
Wait. What?
Yep. The Night of the Living Dead guy cut his teeth making little videos for Mister Rogers. From "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" to "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
Actually, why don't I just spare you the Wikipedia cut + paste summary of Romero's life and career and simply direct you to these two videos, the first of which is an 8-minute interview with Romero from 3 years ago where he talks about his influences and just how exactly he raised the $114,000 to make Night of the Living Dead:
And here's Youtuber Dr. Udru's fantastic history of Romero's films, not just the zombie ones:
And now the industry mourns the loss of a legend:
My first ever movie job: I was an art department intern on DAY OF THE DEAD. I made zombie vomit for Bub.
RIP George Romero, one-of-a-kind pic.twitter.com/18Vz6w5tEt- greg mottola (@gregmottola) July 16, 2017
RIP #GeorgeRomero. You made me want to make movies, and helped me to find meaning in monsters. Thank you. I love you.
- James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 16, 2017
A fond farewell to charming, legendary zombie king George Romero. 'Martin' is one of my favourite horrors. An honour to have met him. RIP pic.twitter.com/8ZIwjxFrmx
- Mark Gatiss (@Markgatiss) July 16, 2017
