David Emge, who wrote George A. Romero and played helicopter pilot-turned-zombie Stephen in Dawn of the Dead, has died. He was 77 years old.
Emge’s family shared the news of his death with the Evansville Courier & Press, a newspaper published in his hometown of Indiana. He died Saturday at the West River Health Campus. The cause of death was not disclosed.
In addition to the 1978 sequel to Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead, there were other films such as Amy’s Devil and Sam Silverstein (1976), Liberation of Cherry Janowski (1976), Basket Case 2 (1990) and Hellmaster (1990 ). was published in 1992).
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In a documentary about the making of Dawn of the Dead, Madge recalled what was going through her head before filming began.
He said, “Becoming a zombie was the only thing I could do to keep what I loved.” “I sat there for weeks and watched all these people come with ‘their’ corpses. And I think, “What do I do?” I had to come up with something completely unique, so I thought, “OK, now what about this guy?” He’s got a gunshot to the neck, a gunshot to the leg, a bullet to the arm, so basically the image of a zombie emerges from the wounds. ,
David Michael Emge was born on September 9, 1946 in Evansville, Illinois, the son of Richard Andrew and Gertrude Marie Emge.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Evansville, where he studied drama. While in college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served during the Vietnam War.
His post-school acting career began on the Pittsburgh Playhouse stage in 1971, and he made his screen debut in the comedy The Booby Hatch (1976). Before he played the role of Stefan in Dawn of the Dead, he started working as a chef in a New York restaurant the same year.
Survivors include her sisters Sue, Kathleen and Barbara and several nieces and nephews.