The University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh is delighted to announce the first exhibition of The George A. Romero Archival Collection, a unique and comprehensive portrait of a filmmaking pioneer. 

Comprised of three separate archives belonging to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero, his widow, Tina Romero, his daughter, and Peter Grunwald, his business partner and friend, the collection is unmatched in content and scope, consisting of hundreds of drafts of produced and unproduced screenplays; script notes; treatments; budgets; shooting schedules; cast lists; production tests; dailies; artwork; correspondence; contracts and agreements; news clippings and magazines; ephemera, including props and set dressing; promotional materials; posters; and a treasure trove of audio-visual materials. Taken together, the archives will allow students, filmmakers, and fans from around the world to trace Romero’s projects from inception to completion and offer rare insight into the career of a filmmaking legend.

About George Romero

George Andrew Romero (February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, and editor. He was born in the Bronx and eventually came to Pittsburgh in the late 1950s where he attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) where he studied graphic arts.

Romero began his career making commercials and shorts including some sequences for Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Then in 1967 he and some friends shot Night of the Living Dead on a shoestring budget of around $100,000. Released in 1968, it became a cult classic and revolutionized independent film and the zombie genre. He followed Night up with numerous other movies including two more zombie films, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead; a vampire film, Martin; and collaborations with Stephen King on Creepshow and The Dark Half. In the early 2000s, Romero moved to Toronto where he made another trilogy of Dead movies.

Romero died in his sleep after a brief battle with lung cancer. His legacy on independent cinema and the horror genre are indelible. While starting out as a cult icon, his work eventually garnered critical acclaim, with Night of the Living Dead being added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1999 and in 2018 a 4K restoration was released based on a print from the Museum of Modern Art.