Stephanie Rothman, a pioneering female filmmaker, made a name for herself in the 1960s and 1970s by specializing in low-budget drive-in exploitation fare. Her movies stood out for their strong-willed and sympathetic female main characters, as well as her radical libertarian feminist perspective.
Born on November 9, 1936, in Paterson, New Jersey, Rothman was the first woman to be awarded the Directors Guild of America fellowship. She began her career in the film industry as an associate producer on several films, including Queen of Blood, Beach Ball, and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.
Rothman's breakthrough as a director came with the film Blood Bath, which she co-wrote and co-directed with her husband, Charles S. Swartz. Her solo directorial debut was the frothy romp It's a Bikini World, which was released in 1967.
In the early 1970s, Rothman made two features for Roger Corman's New World Pictures, including The Student Nurses, which was the first and best of the popular nurse comedy cycle, and The Velvet Vampire, an offbeat horror bloodsucker outing.
Rothman then joined Dimension Pictures, where she and her husband had a minority share. She went on to make several films for the company, including Group Marriage, The Working Girls, and Terminal Island, which starred Tom Selleck.
In addition to her work as a director, Rothman also wrote the story for the fantasy adventure Beyond Atlantis and penned the screenplay for the comedy Starhops.
Throughout her career, Rothman was known for her strong female characters and her commitment to her libertarian feminist values. She was honored with a retrospective on her work at the Vienna International Film Festival in 2007.
