George Andrew Romero was born in the Bronx, New York, on February 4, 1940, and learned filmmaking making industrial shorts in Pittsburgh. There, in 1968, on a budget of roughly $114,000, he shot Night of the Living Dead in black and white — the film that invented the modern zombie, grossed millions, and smuggled sharp social commentary into a drive-in shocker.

Dawn of the Dead (1978), set in a shopping mall, and Day of the Dead (1985) completed a trilogy now ranked among the greatest horror films ever made; Martin, Creepshow and The Crazies built his reputation beyond the ghouls. A dual American-Canadian citizen, Romero settled in Toronto, where he made his later Dead films. He died in Toronto on July 16, 2017, after a brief battle with lung cancer. The city where he is buried had already become his home.