Max Rosenberg, producer of cult horror films; at 89
LOS ANGELES -- Max Rosenberg, a veteran movie producer best known for cult horror classics such as "Tales From the Crypt" and "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" as well as the early rock 'n' roll movies "Jamboree" and "Rock, Rock, Rock!" died Monday after a brief illness. He was 89.
In a more than 60-year career that began as a distributor of foreign films in New York, Mr. Rosenberg produced about 75 movies, the majority of them modestly budgeted horror, supernatural, and science-fiction tales.
First teamed with his longtime producing partner Milton Subotsky in the mid-1950s, Mr. Rosenberg and Subotsky scored their first horror hit in 1957 with "The Curse of Frankenstein," starring Peter Cushing. Made in England in association with Hammer Films for $500,000, it made $7 million and kicked off the revival of gothic horror films.
The producing team also made four music films, including "It's Trad, Dad!", a 1962 comedy directed by a young Richard Lester; and "Rock, Rock, Rock!", a 1957 drama starring a teenage Tuesday Weld and featuring the music of Frankie Lymon, Chuck Berry, and Johnny Burnette.
"It took nine days to make," Mr. Rosenberg recalled in a 2000 interview with the Hollywood Reporter. "The exciting thing was collecting the music. As for the picture itself, there's not much to commend it. It's just a bunch of songs connected to a stupid plot."
Mr. Rosenberg and Subotsky were probably best known for their anthology horror films -- featuring four or five stories revolving around a central theme -- made after they formed Amicus Productions, in England in 1962. Among their offerings: "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors," "The House That Dripped Blood," and "Tales From the Crypt."
"They established themselves as one of the leading purveyors of supernatural, horror, and suspense films during that period," Dennis Bartok, head of programming at the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and a friend of Mr. Rosenberg's, said Wednesday.
What made Mr. Rosenberg unique, Bartok said, "was a combination of commercial savvy -- he was always able to tap into the zeitgeist, whether it was rock 'n' roll in the late '50s or the explosion of drive-in movies and supernatural and horror films . . . with excellent literary taste. Max was probably the best-read person I ever met."
A small, slender man given to smoking mini cigars and wearing English tweeds, handmade shirts, and silk ties, the dapper Mr. Rosenberg was outspoken and courtly.
"Max was a very old-school gentleman and not really the kind of guy you'd expect made his name in horror pictures," director Joe Dante, a friend of Mr. Rosenberg's, told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday. "He was very erudite and knew the business inside and out."
Until he was hospitalized last week, Mr. Rosenberg continued to work as president of Rearguard Productions.
The son of a furrier, Mr. Rosenberg was born in New York City in 1914. A graduate of the City College of New York and St. John's Law School in Jamaica, N.Y., he was a lawyer when he entered the film business as a distributor of foreign art films in 1939.
In 1945, Mr. Rosenberg formed Motion Picture Ventures with Joseph E. Levine, a distribution company that handled art-house foreign-language imports.
Mr. Rosenberg launched his career as a producer in 1954, initially teaming up with Subotsky to make a series of television science programs for children called "Junior Science," which won numerous awards.
In recent years, Mr. Rosenberg was honored with a tribute by the American Cinematheque and appeared at screenings of his films at the annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science Fiction. 