<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

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.