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Thread: Jim O'Rear

  1. #1
    Chasing Prey Yojimbo's Avatar
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    Jim O'Rear


    HomepageoftheDead.com
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    I looked around the pages here and did not see any mention of this, so I thought that I would share this with you all - in particular those of you who attend conventions with your Day of the Dead memorabilia.

    I recently made this post on a dead related Facebook page which resulted in several days of drama:

    "Jim O'Rear, infamous for duping fans at conventions by falsely representing himself as a cast member of Romero's Day of the Dead once again ruined a fan's poster of the film by convincing her to allow him to autograph her piece. If you run into Jim O'Rear aka: James O'Rear, please be forewarned that he has been called out on numerous occasions for fraudently representing himself as having appeared in Romero's Day of the Dead as a zombie extra and a stuntman. When confronted, O'Rear is unable to substantiate any of his claims. Do not allow this O'Rear to sign your Day of the Dead memorabilia under any circumstances, even if he offers to do so for free. Expert sources maintain that in spite of what he might say or what Wikipedia represents as truth or what ignorant convention bookers might believe, O'Rear never appeared in Romero's Day of the Dead. Numerous fans have had their pieces of memorabillia autographed by O'Rear only to regret this after the fact and after the irreversable damage to their memorabillia had been done. Please do not allow O'Rear to foul your piece with his dishonesty."

    This post resulted in a shitstorm of activity from O'Rear and his misguided followers who barraged me and a few other members of various pages on FB -including Lee Karr and DubiousComforts, among other current members and some former members of HPOTD- with personal attacks and petty annoyances. In the end, out of fear of FB reprisal and bans threatened by FB, the moderators of various pages asked folks to cease fire.

    This discussion then went offsite from Facebook to a site where there had been a previous, but ongoing skirmish between O'Rear and our resident dead media expert Lee Karr which can be viewable here: http://www.fromdusktillcon.com/phpbb...hp?f=31&t=3301

    Since I have faith in Lee Karr and DubiousComforts position that Jim O'Rear is a fake and a fraud, I felt that it would be appropriate to warn my friends here too lest they allow O'Rear to deface their DAY memorabilia with his signature.

    If anyone knows anything about this guy, Jim O'Rear, or has been duped into allowing him to autograph their stuff, I would like to hear about it.
    Last edited by Yojimbo; 13-May-2012 at 04:42 PM. Reason: spelling
    Originally Posted by EvilNed
    As a much wiser man than I once said: "We must stop the banning - or loose the war."

  2. #2
    Mall Security capncnut's Avatar
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    Hello everyone. I am the (piss) artist formerly known as Capn Dallow, now returned as capncnut with approval from the staff. Nice to be back. Please let me chime in on the apparent and alleged deception of Mr. O'Rear.

    Until last week, I hadn't even heard of the guy. At first, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until two good friends, Lee Karr (thxleo) and Jim Cirronella (Dubious Comforts), alerted me to the fact that this man might not be genuine. Lee, who I have known for a few years now, is an authority on Day of the Dead as far as I'm concerned, is presently writing a book on the subject, has gotten me signatures at conventions off his own back and sends them to London where I live, at zero expense.

    I admit that I was active in the Facebook outing of O'Rear on a page called Dr. Logan's Chop Shop, which was my standing behind someone that I trust 100%. It was respectfully asked that the man provide us with proof of his working on the movie, which he is still unable to do. It was then asked that he at least tell us which scenes he was in so that it officially goes on record and his presence on set could be verified by others who were in the same scene. Again, he is still unable to provide us with this information.

    He claims to have been a Florida zombie, has signed merch with this as the subtitle, and says Joe Pilato and Gary Klar can back up his claims of working with them in Florida. One problem with this: Joe Pilato and Gary Klar never set foot in Florida and were only on set at the Wampum Mine in Pennsylvania.

    A friend of mine called Lisa (she may register here as DOTDFan) posted a photograph of her glorious poster, which has pretty much every signature from the cast and crew of Day of the Dead on it. It also bears Mr. O'Rear's signature, which has the subtitle of "stunts and zombie". A scan of this poster can be made available. I am willing to bite my tongue and accept that he was maybe a zombie - hell, any regular Joe can wander in on set and get made up - but stuntman? That is a highly questionable and ballsy claim.

    So this Facebook thing escalates and instead of trying to silence us with cold hard facts on the matter, O'Rear and his followers resorted to name-calling and insults, notably Yojimbo, where cruel comments were made about his looks and his character. I hear the Chop Shop administrator was also made fun of and it resulted O'Rear's account going down for a few hours.

    All of a sudden the Tom Savini page posted and seemingly backed up O'Rear's claims. I was genuinely shocked, and considered sending O'Rear a personal apology for doubting him. However, I had to be sure and politely requested that Savini acknowledge the stuntman claims to put the thing to rest conclusively. I replied only once to his post and this landed me no less than five warnings at Facebook (I have it on good authority it was O'Rear and Savini themselves), as posted below along with my single request to the Savini page.


    We've received one or more reports that the following content you posted violates Facebook policies. We have not yet taken any action:
    "Mr. Savini, my name is Brett and I have been a lifelong fan. I have your signature on many pieces of memorabilia and am very good friends with one of your students, who is quite the budding make-up artist himself. For the sake of putting this to rest, I respectfully ask you to confirm whether Mr. O'Rear performed stunts in Day of the Dead. Any reply is greatly appreciated. Thank You. "



    I would like to ask all of you, what part of this message would violate the terms and conditions of Facebook? On the third warning, I filed an extensive report and received an email from a Facebook admin that I had NOT breached guidelines and the situation would be looked into. A scan of this message can be made available also.

    Now again, I ask, why not provide hard facts instead of resorting to harassment and attempts at silencing someone who has done little more than request the truth? I know for a fact that if I was Mr. O'Rear I would do my balls-out best to shut up my accusers and come out smelling of roses. Not only that, if I was friends with Savini I'd have him verify my stuntwork too, which is the claim that brought this entire debacle to light in the first place.

    I am also friends with an acquaintance of O'Rear's who told me that he told him that he was on the elevator during the scene where Miguel committed suicide. That is a CROCK! Also, O'Rear's Wikipedia page has since deleted Day of the Dead from his biography. Fortunately Google image search offers the user a chance to view any webpage in cached form and I have a screengrab of the film still being mentioned in his bio as of May 8th, 2012.

    I have now got word that Lee Karr has received an email from Savini who apologised to to him and stated that he does not remember O'Rear being in the film or making him up as a zombie. This is pretty damning evidence. Karr has posted these emails at From Dusk 'til Con at the expense of his friendship with Savini. It has been said that the stunt co-ordinator Taso Stavrakis has also called "bullshit" on O'Rear's claims, so I gather.

    Adding all this to previous revelations made, I am entirely convinced that Mr. O'Rear did not appear in George A. Romero's Day of the Dead and is defacing people's merchandise. How would you guys like it if I scrawled on your poster with a Sharpie? Naturally I will not state this as concrete fact - I'm not that stupid - and will gladly kiss his ass if he proves us all wrong.

    Oh, and I'm not just back to discuss this matter, I will be a regular and friendly contributor.
    Last edited by capncnut; 13-May-2012 at 07:40 PM. Reason: Tidy up

  3. #3
    Chasing Prey Yojimbo's Avatar
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    It went from bad to worse just now. Savini, if it really was him, made a viciously angry post threatening Lee on FB because he would not remove the Dusktillcon post outing Jim O'Rear as a fraud.

    Ultimately I blame Jim O'Rear for dragging Tom into this.
    Originally Posted by EvilNed
    As a much wiser man than I once said: "We must stop the banning - or loose the war."

  4. #4
    Mall Security capncnut's Avatar
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    Indeed, brother Jimbo. I saw and I am genuinely baffled. Nothing would make me feel better in having conclusive proof the man was in the film and like I say, I would give his bum a good ol' slurp if that proof was to come to light. But the outburst on Lee's Facebook seems to uphold the claims of fraud that has been made and many people can see that. Mr. Savini is just upset that Lee broke a confidence, and that is understandble. In my opinion though, it was absolutely necessary to leak it in order to get this mess sorted once and for all. Lee was fully aware of the consequences. Threatening to smash the guy up at the next convention is very unclassy and I'm really not sure what to think about it all.

    I hope the situation gets sorted because it becoming a joke now. I have faith that everything will iron itself out eventually and that this unfortunate mess can be resolved.

  5. #5
    Rising kortick's Avatar
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    Lol, reading that shit fit that Savini had was actually amusing.
    talk about losing it.
    Hey its not every day that Tom Savini says hes gonna murder you....

  6. #6
    Mall Security capncnut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kortick View Post
    Hey its not every day that Tom Savini says hes gonna murder you....

    "Say goodbye, creep!"


    The George A. Romero Fan Assembly @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/geor...rofanassembly/

  7. #7
    I feel bad for Lee for doing the right thing. I feel bad for Savini for defending a fraudulent "actor/author/stuntman", and I feel bad for anyone who got the wool pulled over their eyes & got a sig from O'Rear. In my experience, O'Rear's always been a fraud, never offering any proof that he was involved in DAY, not to mention no one else from the cast or crew confirming his appearance. Now Savini has to insult Lee so he doesn't look bad for sticking up for O'Rear. What's that say about the state of Tom's "career" at the moment?

    It's this situation that makes me glad I'm out of the conventions loop (haven't been to a show since 04). I hope Lee doesn't suffer any fallout from people like Tom, O'Rear, etc..., because Lee's one of the most stand-up, honest, straight shooters I've had the pleasure of hanging out with in the last 8 years, and sharing information with as well. His character is 150% solid compared to grumpy old Savini signing pictures without looking you in the eye or that GIMP O'Rear who can offer no proof to his claims.




    HI! I WAS A ZOMBIE/STUNTMAN IN DAY OF THE DEAD!

  8. #8
    through another dimension bassman's Avatar
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    If he's not charging for his autograph, i'm just wondering how he could benefit from all this? Why give autographs for a film you didn't work on if you're not gaining anything from it? I'm not defending the guy, he sounds like a douche, it just doesn't make any sense why he would go out of his way to say he was involved when all he can gain is his signature ruining other people's memorabilia....

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by bassman View Post
    If he's not charging for his autograph, i'm just wondering how he could benefit from all this?
    Because it makes it easier for O'Rear to get booked at conventions that feature people who actually worked on the film, to make it more appealing to fans of that particular film to attend the con so he can promote his amazing career (HA!). He does list DAY as his first credit on his bio's & convention description. Has anyone actually read any of his so-called books, or seen the low rent flicks he's "starred in"? I know I haven't.

  10. #10
    Mall Security capncnut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jscott View Post
    Has anyone actually read any of his so-called books, or seen the low rent flicks he's "starred in"? I know I haven't.
    I've seen a few clips on YouTube and it's laughable. The dude's not worthy of being in an extra in an Ed Wood flick, let alone Day of the Dead.

    Another thing I have noticed is that on his website and on an interview page, there is one stand out photo of a zombie in the mine that is placed among others of him in a way that leads the reader think it is him. Naturally it is not him, it is of Dave Kindlon, and O'Rear has admitted that he has zero proof of being on the set. Also, wherever this debate seems to be taken, it's almost like a war between curious folk like myself, Lee Karr and Yojimbo versus one or two arrogant people who laugh at the claims even though new evidence is coming to light with every day that passes.

    Why can't the man just tell everyone what scenes he was in and shut everyone up? He's roped poor old Savini into it and it's potentially damaged the guy's reputation. Who else is he gonna go screaming to for back up? If you can't fight your own battles then don't bother.
    Last edited by capncnut; 14-May-2012 at 05:48 PM. Reason: Soz, I'm a grammar Nazi


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    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    How ironic that a guy named "O'Rear" is going around f'ing people in the a$$... Sad to hear that someone has nothing better to do than screw over fans.

  12. #12
    Just Married AcesandEights's Avatar
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    So shady!

    First, welcome back, Brett.

    Second, I'm glad that I use facebook more for keeping up with individuals and less with 'communities', because there are some crazies out there.

    This is horrible drama, but I applaud you and Yojimbo for acting on what you could only assume to be good information based on the sources (Lee & Dubious Comforts are as close to experts & chroniclers on the topic as there is). And, as you say, if there's any truth to Jim O'rear's claims, not only should the first response be a reasoned considerate one by him, it should be the sort of response that is reasonably verifiable.

    I only became somewhat aware of this a few days ago when I noticed some bit about it in my feed, as I'm friends with Yojimbo on FB. I have to say, the thought of someone harassing Yojimbo blows me away, as he's consistently been one of the classiest and nicest people I've met through hpotd.

    I'm very interested in how this pans out, and somewhat pissed in the interim. Good luck!

    "Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true." --Lord Dunsany

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    The George A. Romero Fan Assembly @ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/geor...rofanassembly/

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    Chasing Prey Yojimbo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    I only became somewhat aware of this a few days ago when I noticed some bit about it in my feed, as I'm friends with Yojimbo on FB. I have to say, the thought of someone harassing Yojimbo blows me away, as he's consistently been one of the classiest and nicest people I've met through hpotd.
    Kind of you to say, Brother Aces - though unsure that O'Rear would agree. Nevertheless, thanks for the backup!

    This was never meant to be a personal attack on Jim O'Rear, just an attempt to make sure that the word about him got to the fans for their own protection. Fans who have spent countless hours and buckets of money to get signatures of those involved in the making of a film should not have their priceless memorabillia marred with a psudeo-celb's signature - it's just wrong. O'Rear did take to making personal attacks - not only on me but on anyone who dared to question him, and did his best to obscure the truth and prevent it from coming out. Some moderators of pages actually accomodated his requests (or threats) by removing all mention of this topic, which makes me all the more glad that there are pages like HPOTD and mods like Andy and Neil who stand their ground and let the truth speak for itself. My deepest respect for this page and all the mods here!
    Originally Posted by EvilNed
    As a much wiser man than I once said: "We must stop the banning - or loose the war."

  15. #15
    HpotD Curry Champion krakenslayer's Avatar
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    Hey, good to see you again Brett!

    By the way, this thread is now the third top result for the guy's name in Google, coming before the guy's actual, official website. Looks like O'Rear and Savini are getting some schooling in the Barbara Streisand effect. This could get interesting...
    Last edited by krakenslayer; 17-May-2012 at 06:02 PM. Reason: .

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