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Roger W. George Roger Wayne George was born in Virginia City, Nevada on June 3, 1925. At the age of 14 he left home and went to work in the mines, enlisting in the Navy a few years later. He became a “Frogman” in the Navy Seals and was highly decorated for his bravery, essentially learning the trade he became well known for in Hollywood. In the early 1950’s Roger started working in Hollywood as a prop man and also in carpentry, building residential homes. It wasn’t long before a friend of his in the business who knew about his Navy experience invited him to put his demolition talents to work in the special effects department. Throughout the rest of the 50’s and 60’s, he worked on more than a dozen movies blowing things up. In 1973 while working on the movie “Idaho Transfer” with Peter Fonda, Roger suffered a terrible accident and his entire body was badly burned. After spending eight months in the burn unit and a few months recovering at home, Roger got right back into the business of blowing things up. In the remainder of the 70’s he created the effects for movies such as “Capone”, “Vigilante Force”, “Avalanche”, and “Steel”. By this time he had a reputation as the best in the business. In 1980 Roger started his own special effects rental company called Roger George Rentals. In the early eighties while offering rental equipment for rent to other effects men and crew, he partnered with MP Associates, becoming a distributor of pyrotechnics. One of his favorite products to demonstrate was colored fire. He called that his ‘fly killer’ as he sprayed it from a bottle onto a cigarette lighter zapping anything that flew by. He loved loud booms and things that smoked. His favorite effects were blowing up cars and launching 55 gallon drums. The movies that best demonstrate these finales Roger enjoyed so much are “The Beastmaster” and “Lone Wolf McQuade”. Not only did Roger enjoy blowing up everything asked of him and then some, he was also very mechanically inclined. He created many contraptions over the years but his most famous was in the movie “The Terminator”. In order to give the effect that the Terminator was punching through the front windshield, Roger had to build and operate a hydraulic arm. Other movies Roger worked on in the 80’s were “The Howling”, “Repo Man”, “Ghoulies”, and “Night of the Creeps”. He also worked on the television show “Tour of Duty”. Roger’s rental and pyrotechnic business has become very successful through the years. After more than 50 years in the motion picture industry, he retired in 2003. He moved to Las Vegas to be with his family until he passed away from complications with Alzheimer’s on December 14, 2007, with his family by his side. Roger is a legend and as we continue to watch his work in the movies that spanned his career, we are reminded about the loss of a great man who contributed so much to the industry. He will be greatly missed. Martha George – Daughter |