Samuel Z. Arkoff: ‘Inventor of the teen film market, he unapologetically produced 463 lowbrow movies…’

including such classics as Beach Blanket Bingo, Wild in the Streets, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Beast with a Million Eyes, and Blacula.

He gave many directors and actors their start; and he fostered the growth of the blaxploitation genre by producing films (often starring Pam Grier, who started her career as an AIP receptionist) aimed at inner-city theaters.

(The Double Feature release pattern, which enabled distributors to take a percentage of box office receipts instead of settling for a flat fee from exhibitors, was his idea.)