Filmmakers

Warner Brothers

Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack Warner hailed from Ohio but made a name for themselves by opening the first silent movie nickelodeon in downtown New Castle in 1907. Granddaugher Cass Warner today holds a film festival in New Castle and has started the Harry M. Warner Film Institute at Slippery Rock University.

David O. Selznick

Hollywood producer and magnate who was the driving force behind Gone With the Wind (1939). Son of the silent movie director Lewis J. Selznick, studied at Columbia University until his father lost his fortune in the 1920s. Worked as MGM, Paramount then RKO. Was back at MGM in 1933 after marrying Irene Mayer, the daughter of Louis B. Mayer. In 1936 set up his own production company, Selznick International. Three directors and fifteen scriptwriters later, Gone with the Wind was released. The studio's other credits include Rebecca (1940) and Spellbound (1945). Also married to actress Jennifer Jones.

Rob Marshall

Received equity card through Pittsburgh CLO in his early years in the theater in Pittsburgh. Studied at Point Park College and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1982. Director of Academy Award winning film for Best Picture, Chicago (2002). Nominated for Broadway's Tony Award six times: as Best Choreographer, in 1993, for Kiss of the Spider Woman—The Musical; in 1994, for Damn Yankees! and She Loves Me; in 1998 for Cabaret; and in 1999 for Little Me; and as Best Director (Musical), with collaborator Sam Mendes, for Cabaret.

Ranked #93 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. First appearance on the list and one of very few to appear on it after making only one film.

George Romero

Film director born in 1940 and raised New York City. Attended Carnegie Mellon University and upon graduation, began shooting mostly short films and commercials. Formed Image Ten Productions in the late 1960s with friends, all of whom contributed $10,000 apiece to produce what became one of the most celebrated American horror films of all time, Night of the Living Dead (1968). Shot in black and white on a limited budget of just over $100,000 it became a cult classic and earned back multitudes more than what it cost.

Next films, including There's Always Vanilla (1971), The Crazies (1973), Hungry Wives (1973) (where he met future wife Christine Forrest) and Martin (1977) were shot in or around Pittsburgh. In 1978, returned to the zombie genre with Dawn of the Dead (1978). Shooting in the Monroeville Mall during late-night hours, film depicted the sorrowful tale of four people who escape a zombie outbreak. Shot on just $1.5 million, the film earned over $40 million worldwide. Also marked first-time collaboration with make-up and effects artist Tom Savini.

Success led to bigger budgets and better talent for the filmmaker: Knightriders starring Ed Harris (1981), Creepshow (1982), and Day of the Dead (1985), The Dark Half (1993) and Bruiser (2000). His latest in the Dead Series, Land of the Dead, debuted in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2005.