George Burdell was born on July 4, 1936, in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, and appeared as a member of the posse, dressed in a black T-shirt and white pants, and carrying a handgun.  His journey into the film was the result of his connection to the TV commercial industry.  He was a sales rep for a foundry supply company and knew Latent Image from the commercials they had filmed for them.

Initially, when George was offered the chance to be in the movie, he said he couldn’t take time off work.  But when the opportunity came to be a part of the posse, which was shot on a Sunday, he jumped at it.

Although he wasn’t able to portray a zombie, George shared plenty of fun anecdotes about life on set. One particularly vivid memory he had was of the “flesh and guts” eaten by the zombies—buckets of liver doused in ketchup.

Another memory George had was after they were done filming the posse scenes, the group went into the house where they toasted to the movie, and had wine and cake.

In addition to his part in Night of the Living Dead, George was the face of Town Talk commercials, where he gained recognition in Pittsburgh’s creative scene.

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Researched and compiled by John Vullo & Daz Sargeant

Text and photos  © Image Ten, Inc.

If you know of any family, friends or acquaintances that appeared as extras in the original Night of the Living Dead, please contact John Vullo at jmv3683@gmail.com

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