John Carpenter

Photo of John Carpenter

Biography

For most of his life, John Carpenter had been directing films. Surrounded by artistic influences ever since he was young - his father was an accomplished violinist and his mother routinely took him to movies - Carpenter naturally made the transition from childhood experimenter, to film student, to finally, professional director. Unexpected, however, was his making one the most important horror films ever in "Halloween" (1978), a chilling tale …
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Job Title

Actor, Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, Music, Executive, Other

Born

John Howard Carpenter on January 16, 1948 in Carthage, New York, USA

Career Milestones

2010

Returned to directing with "The Ward"

2006

Once again directed an episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series, "Pro-Life"

2005

Produced the big budget remake of his film, The Fog"

2005

Directed "Cigarette Burns," an episode of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series

2001

Wrote and directed the horror film, "Ghosts of Mars"

1998

Directed the film, "Vampires," starring James Woods as the leader of a band of vampire hunters

1996

Re-teamed with Kurt Russell for the sequel, "John Carpenter's Escape From L.A."

1993

Executive produced and directed two segments of the Showtime anthology, "John Carpenter Presents Body Bags"

1990

Wrote and produced the Western comedy "El Diablo," for HBO

1987

Returned to low-budget filmmaking with "Prince of Darkness"

1985

Directed Kurt Russell in "Big Trouble in Little China"

1984

Made debut as an executive producer, "The Philadelphia Experiment"

1984

Directed t"Starman," starring Jeff Bridges in his Oscar nominated role

1983

Directed the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel, "Christine"

1982

Directed first film he did not write, "The Thing"; again collaborated with Russell

1981

Second collaboration with Kurt Russell, "Escape From New York"

1980

Directed, wrote and composed the score for "The Fog"; also made his screen acting debut

Formed own production company Hye Whitebread Productions with wife Barbeau

1979

Helmed the ABC biopic "Elvis"; Kurt Russell played the title role in their first collaboration

1978

Directed Lauren Hutton in the NBC TV-movie, "Someone's Watching Me!"; first screen collaboration with future wife Adrienne Barbeau

1978

Wrote, directed and composed the score for his breakthrough film, "Halloween"

1978

First mainstream Hollywood film, "Eyes of Laura Mars"

1978

TV-movie writing debut, "Zuma Beach" (NBC)

1976

Wrote, directed and scored second feature, "Assault on Precinct 13"

1974

First major film as director, "Dark Star"; also co-wrote Dan O'Bannon

1969

Served as co-writer, film editor and music composer on the Oscar-winning short, "The Resurrection of Bronco Billy"

Met future collaborator Dan O'Bannon while both were graduate film students at USC

1965

Emerald Productions published the film fanzine, Fantastic Films Illustrated

Made his last, and reportedly best short, "Gorgon the Space Monster"

Filmed the 40-minute short, "Warrior and the Demon"; this was Carpenter's first use of stop-motion animation

While still a teen, formed own production company, Emerald Productions

First substantial film, the 40-minute featurette, "Revenge of the Colossal Beasts"

1956

At age eight, began making his own action-oriented movies using his father's 8mm Brownie camera

Awards

1979

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for New Generation Award in Halloween