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John Carpenter, born in Carthage, New York, on January 16, 1948, and raised in Bowling Green, Kentucky, began his movie career by attending the University of Southern California film school in Los Angeles. While a student there, he received an Academy Award in 1970 for his short film, "The Resurrection of Bronco Billy."

Carpenter's early work as a director proved commercially successful. Dark Star, in 1974, was a low-budget, outer-space comedy, on which he also shared writing credit with Dan O'Bannon. In 1976, he wrote and directed Assault on Precinct 13, an action flick that pitted cops versus a street gang. Perhaps his biggest moment of fame came with the release of Halloween in 1978, a smash hit that spawned a franchise and breathed life into the slasher film genre.

Carpenter continued to mine his pictures from a dark vein. Most of his features, if not instant successes, became cult classics, such as The Fog (1980), remade 25 years later; Escape from New York (1981), which Carpenter followed up in 1996 with Escape from L.A.; and Starman (which Columbia Pictures turned down "E.T." to make), in 1984. 1982 saw Carpenter direct a remake of "The Thing", which utilised Rob Bottin's state-of-the-art effects work to chilling effect in a tense study in paranoia. In 1983, he directed Christine, an adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. Other notable titles include Big Trouble in Little China in 1986, Prince of Darkness in 1987, They Live in 1988, Village of the Damned in 1995, Vampires in 1998, and Ghosts of Mars in 2001. He interspersed these projects with various entries in the Halloween franchise.

In addition to writing and directing, Carpenter also composed the scores for most of his films, acted as producer on many of them, and made his share of appearances in front of the camera. Does this man love the movies?

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External Links

• John Carpenter at IMDB.com
• Upcoming TV Schedule by IMDB.com

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