The first page of Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof script has a personal note to one of his all-time favorite screenwriters, Charles B. Griffith, thanking him for inspiration. If you’re not familiar with the name, he was Roger Corman’s chief scribe for many years, and wrote such B classics as Little Shop of Horrors and Death Race 2000 (he also launched the biker film with 1966’s The Wild Angels, which featured the real Hell’s Angels).

For many years, Griffith didn’t think any of the films he wrote would have any lasting value, but the success of the Little Shop musical, and Tarantino’s praise, showed him otherwise (at one time, Tim Burton was also going to remake Griffith’s X: the Man With the X Ray Eyes).

Thankfully, Griffith, unlike Ed Wood, was able to enjoy the fact that he had fans and was influential while he was still here. He passed away on September 28 at the age of 77. Before he passed, I spoke to him several times for my former alma matter, Creative Screenwriting magazine, and learned how fun movies can come together with even the tightest schedules (and even tighter wallets).

If you think breaking into Hollywood is impossible today, it was beyond impossible back in the fifties. The only producer giving anybody a break was Roger Corman. “It was really the only place you could break in,” Griffith said. Working with Corman, you had to work fast, and Griffith wrote one script, Rock All Night, in twenty-four hours. “I think it was the second rock and roll musical after Rock Around the Clock,” Griffith recalled.

Often Corman would show Griffith a set, and ask him to write a movie for it, which he did for the comedies Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors. One day he told Griffith, “These sets will be standing for two weeks, so you’ll have to give me a script in five days, and I’ll shoot it in five days.” Roger would also have posters drawn up for movies first, then Griffith had to write the script for the poster.

As for the genesis of Little Shop, one night Corman and Griffith went out nightclubbing, and after some drinks, Griffith started throwing out ideas, including a flower shop with a man-eating plant. “Writing the script, when it came to the moment, I just automatically started the plant talking,” said Griffith. “Roger said, ‘A talking plant?’ I said, ‘Why not?’”

Little Shop of Horrors would become a cult classic decades after its release, and in addition to inspiring the musical, it also featured a memorable early role for Jack Nicholson as a masochist who loves going to the dentist. ”I was astonished at how Little Shop did,” said Griffith. “It made more money every year for twenty five years, which is phenomenal. I don’t think there’s any record in the business like that.”

Death Race 2000, which Maxim voted as the #1 B movie of all time, was pitched to Corman when the producer read about Rollerball going into production. “I want to beat them out,” Corman told him, and they did. As Corman was able to spend more money on his movies, the scripts tooks longer (Death Race took three weeks).

As for his influence on Tarantino, Griffith told me, “I’m flabbergasted. It’s really the only recognition I’ve had. I don’t know of any other writers I’ve influenced.” Sure he didn’t have the impact of a screenwriter like Robert Towne (Chinatown, and also a former Corman alumni in his early days), but Griffith in his own unique way left his mark. Goodbye Charles, you will definitely be missed.