The godfather of zombies, George Romero, has passed away at age 77
By Nick Tylwalk
George Romero didn’t invent zombies, but it’s fair to say he put them on the map in such a way that there would be nothing like The Walking Dead without his contributions. Now, fans of the undead will join together to mourn the passing of the genre’s godfather.
As reported by the L.A. Times, Romero’s family announced Sunday that the filmmaker has passed away after a battle with lung cancer. The 77-year-old Romero is survived by current wife Suzanne Desrocher Romero and several children from previous marriages.
Romero’s most lasting contribution to pop culture came from his very first movie, the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. Romero wrote and directed the seminal zombie film and even appeared in it as a reporter. While blood and guts were certainly among its draws, the movie and its sequels were lauded for using zombies to make social and political points as well.
Though it took him 17 years, he eventually completed a zombie trilogy with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, which also helped shape and later filmmakers in various ways.
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In fact it’s hard to find a writer or director with a work featuring zombies who doesn’t count Romero as a major influence. Robert Kirkman, the mastermind behind The Walking Dead, claims that seeing the Living Dead trilogy was his biggest guiding light, though Romero has been dismissive of TWD in return, calling it “a soap opera with a zombie occasionally.”
Despite that, expect the likes of Kirkman, Zack Snyder and many others who rose to fame and fortune working with the undead to offer up their tributes to the man who really started the whole zombie craze. Romero may be gone, but his work will live on, probably as long as there are movies.