John A. Russo
Russo (born September 2, 1939), sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the co-screenwriter of Night of the Living Dead (1968) alongside its director, George A. Russo would subsequently go on to become an author of horror fiction novels.
John A. Russo
Brother87 · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1939. · United States.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- screenwriter, actor, film editor, director, film producer and writer.
- Fields
- film direction, film production, horror film and horror literature.
- Languages
- English.
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Russo (born September 2, 1939), sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the co-screenwriter of Night of the Living Dead (1968) alongside its director, George A. Russo would subsequently go on to become an author of horror fiction novels.
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Note VALÉORINE
John A. Russo (born 1939) is an actor, director and film director, among other activities, of American nationality. The actor was born in United States. Activity centred on comic, film direction and film production. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q2460466 · wikipedia · John A. Russo
In this article
Career
Career
Russo was born and grew up in Clairton, Pennsylvania and lives in Glassport, Pennsylvania. Russo attended West Virginia University while his friend Rudy Ricci attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Ricci met George A. Romero at Carnegie Mellon and introduced Russo to Romero on Russo's Christmas vacation. After college, Russo was drafted into the army and served a two-year stint. Meanwhile, Romero with Russell Streiner formed The Latent Image to produce commercial films with the aim of eventually making a full-length feature film. When Russo got out of the army, he joined his friends in The Latent Image and soon plans were made for a feature film. Russo crafted a rough idea about a young man stumbling upon a host of ghouls feeding off human corpses. Romero loved the idea and a few days later he presented Russo with forty pages of a story based on the idea. The film ultimately became Night of the Living Dead which led to Romero's Dead series and the Living Dead series, with the latter based on a story by Russo. Russo went on to author many novels and, like his friend Romero, began making films of his own. The Booby Hatch is a sex comedy released in 1976. Midnight is an adaptation of Russo's novel of the same name and released in 1982. His novel The Majorettes was adapted by Russo himself and directed by Bill Hinzman who played the Cemetery Zombie in Night of the Living Dead. Russo's next film was Heartstopper which features "name" actors Michael J. Pollard and Moon Unit Zappa. Russo considers it his favorite of the films he has directed. Russo is also the founder and one of the co-mentors (along with Russell Streiner) of the John Russo Movie Making Program at DuBois Business College in DuBois, Pennsylvania.
As an actor
As an actor
My Uncle John is a Zombie (2016) as Uncle John House of Frankenstein 1997 (1997) (miniseries) as Honor Guard Santa Claws (1996) (as John Russo) as Detective a.k.a. 'Tis the Season The Inheritor (1990) as Unknown role The Majorettes (1986) (as John Russo) as Dr. Gibson the Coroner a.k.a. One by One There's Always Vanilla (1971) (uncredited) as Music producer a.k.a. The Affair Night of the Living Dead (1968) (uncredited) as Washington military reporter/Ghoul in house
Documentary appearances
Documentary appearances
More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead (2011) as Himself One for the Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead (2008) as Himself (also served as associate producer) UnConventional (2004) as Himself The Dead Walk: Remaking a Classic (1999) (V) as Himself Note: this is a "making-of" special featured on the DVD edition of the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. A-Z of Horror (1997) (mini) TV Series as Himself a.k.a. Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror (UK: complete title) Night of the Living Dead: 25th Anniversary Documentary (1993) (V) as Himself Note: this is a 25th Anniversary special featured on a video release of the original Night of the Living Dead film. Horror F/X (1989) (V) as Himself Note: Russo interviews frequent collaborator and fellow Pittsburgh horror movie maker, Tom Savini, in this low-budget shot-on-video documentary. Drive-In Madness! (1987) as Himself a.k.a. Screen Scaries (USA: video title)
Comics
Comics
With Avatar Press he is writing a number of comic books: Escape of the Living Dead George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead Plague of the Living Dead
John A. Russo as zombie in Night of the Living Dead
Wikimedia Commons
John A. Russo(right) who is the co-creator of the 1968 classical zombie film Night of the Living Dead and the Japanese filmmaker Ryota Nakanishi who is the film editor of the 2013 bestseller Japanese film Rakugo-Eiga.
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Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2460466: John A. Russo
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “John A. Russo”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.J.C. Maçek III. The Zombification Family Tree: Legacy of the Living Dead. PopMatters. June 15, 2012.
- 2.Search the inventory of Movie Emporium, Inc. Movie Emporium, Inc.
- 3.'Living Dead' co-writer talks about growing up in Clairton. old.post-gazette.com.
- 4.Rowan, Terry. The Book of the Undead A Zombie Film Guide. Lulu.com. 978-1-312-43947-4.
- 5.WWC XTRA: Picking the Brains of a “Living Dead” Legend with Avatar Press, August 13, 2007, Comic Book Resources
- 6.Escape of the Living Dead – Avatar Press
- 7.George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead – Avatar Press
- 8.Plague of the Living Dead – Avatar Press
Bibliography printed in the source article · 33
- Night of the Living Dead (1974) [Warner paperback Library]
- Return of the Living Dead (1977) [Dale]
- The Majorettes (1979) [Pocket Books]
- Midnight (1980) [Pocket books]
- Limb to Limb (1981) [Pocket Books]
- Bloodsisters (1982) [Pocket Books]
- Black Cat (1982) [Pocket Books]
- The Awakening (1983) [Pocket Books]
- Day Care (1985) [Pocket Books]
- Return of the Living Dead (1985) -Novelization Version- [Arrow Books]
- Inhuman [1986] [Pocket Books]
- Voodoo Dawn (1987) [Imagine]
- Living Things (1988) [Popular Library]
- The Complete Night of the Living Dead Film Book (1989) [Random House]
- Making Movies (1989) [Dell]
- Scare Tactics (1992) [Dell]
- How to Make Your Own Feature Movie for $10,000 or Less (1995) [Zinn P.G.]
- Hell's Creation (1995) (Ravenmor)
- The Sanity Ward (1995) (Ravenmor)
- Undead (2010) (Kensington) (Omnibus of Night of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead)
- The Big Book of Bizarro (2011) (Burning Bulb Publishing) (Contains the short story Channel 666)
- The Hungry Dead (2013) (Kensington) (Contains the novel Escape of the Living Dead and the 1980 novel Midnight)
- Dealey Plaza (2014) (Burning Bulb Publishing)
- Epidemic of the Living Dead (2018) (Kensington)
- Spawn of the Living Dead (2019) (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
- The Darkest Web (2022) (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
- The Night They Came Home (2022) (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
- The Unearthly (2022) (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
- Weep No More (2022) (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
- The Killing Truth (2022) (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
- The Price of Admission (2022) (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
- Kane, Joe. Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever. Citadel Press. 2010. 978-0806533315.
- Russo, John. Making Movies. Dell Publishing. 1989. 044050046X.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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