Low-budget master Roger Corman to get honorary Oscar

There's a joke in Hollywood that low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman could negotiate a deal in a phone booth, film the movie in the same booth and finance it with the loose change he found. The joke is not far from the truth.

Corman, whose Hollywood legacy includes films with titles such as "Candy Stripe Nurses," "The Terror," "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Bloody Mama," was legendary for making movies quickly and on shoestring budgets. He has the record, if you will, of completing a movie in two and a half days. The film was called "Little Shop of Horrors" and starred a little-known actor named Jack Nicholson. "Shop of Horrors" went on to inspire a big budget remake and a theater production.

Corman, 83, on Saturday will receive an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifetime achievement in filmmaking. Corman has 385 credits for producing, 56 for directing, six for writing and 32 for acting.

Besides producing entertaining movies for 50-plus years, Corman also has a sizable reputation for mentoring many of today's best directors including Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard and Jonathan Demme. They are just some of the graduates of what Hollywood calls the Roger Corman Film School.

A lot of actors also got career boosts from Corman including Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper and William Shatner.

Perhaps not so well known is that Corman was instrumental in the 1960s of introducing American audiences to the works of international filmmakers including Sweden's Ingmar Bergman, Italy's Federico Fellini and Japan's Akira Kurosawa.

Here are six movies available on video and DVD that are testament to the lasting legacy of the Corman Film School.

"Frankenstein Unbound" (1990) -- Corman wrote the screenplay for this take on the Frankenstein story, which he also directed. Stars include John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda and Jason Patric. It was the last film Corman directed.

"The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) -- Director Jonathan Demme was a graduate of the Corman Film School and he cast his mentor as FBI Director Hayden Burke in this thriller about the FBI using serial killer Hannibal Lecter to catch another murderer. Stars include Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster and Scott Glenn.

"Von Richthofen and Brown" (1971) -- Corman directs this biopic about the World War I ace known as the Red Baron (John Phillip Law) and the Canadian aviator Roy Brown (Don Stroud), who shot him down. The aerial scenes are outstanding.

"The Wild Angels" (1966) -- Corman got some flack for this film he directed about the Hell's Angels, but some film critics say it was the first film to capture the youth movement of the 1960s. Stars include Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Michael J. Pollard and Gayle Hunnicutt.

"Boxcar Bertha" (1972) -- Corman had a way of spotting talent. One of his finds was Martin Scorsese, who directs this movie about a Depression-era union leader (David Carradine) and his girlfriend (Barbara Hershey) getting revenge on an uncaring railroad mogul. Other stars include Barry Primus, Bernie Casey and John Carradine.

"The Terror" (1963) -- Corman boosted the careers of many actors including Jack Nicholson, who stars as a Napoleonic officer who tracks a mysterious woman to an even-more-mysterious castle. Other stars include Boris Karloff and Dick Miller.