20 Mind-Blowing Facts About George A. Romero’s Living Dead Movies

Contrary to popular belief, Day of the Dead’s Captain Rhodes wasn’t the first character actor Joseph Pilato played in a Living Dead film. His first appearance in the franchise was a bit part as a rogue police officer in Dawn of the Dead who tries to prevent Peter and Fran leaving in their helicopter.

Romero’s long-time SFX and makeup collaborator Tom Savini has also appeared twice in the franchise – firstly as marauding biker Blades in Dawn of the Dead and later as the same character but zombified in Land of the Dead.

Romero’s fourth Living Dead movie also starred two actors who would later return to the franchise – Alan van Sprang as soldier Brubaker and Shawn Roberts as rookie scavenger Mike. In Diary of the Dead, Roberts played film student Tony Ravello while van Sprang played Sergeant ‘Nicotine’ Crockett – a role he reprised again in Romero’s last Living Dead movie Survival of the Dead.