Legendary horror movie director GEORGE A. ROMERO died in his sleep yesterday . . . after a, quote, “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer.”  He was 77.

He reportedly passed while listening to the score of “The Quiet Man” from 1952, which was one of his favorite movies.  He was surrounded by family.

George was most famous for his zombie apocalypse movies . . . beginning with “Night of the Living Dead“ in 1968.  He also did “Dawn of the Dead” in ’78, “Day of the Dead” in ’85, and later “Land of the Dead”, “Diary of the Dead”, and “Survival of the Dead”.

Some of his other movies include:  “The Crazies” in 1973, “Martin” in 1978, “Creepshow” in 1982, “Monkey Shines” in 1988, and “The Dark Half” in 1993.

Director Eli Roth Tweeted, quote, “It’s hard to quantify how much he inspired me and what he did for cinema . . . he used genre to confront racism 50 years ago.  He always had diverse casts, with Duane Jones as the heroic star of ‘Night of the Living Dead’.

“You can trace a direct line from ‘Night of the Living Dead’ to ‘Get Out’.  And . . . Romero CREATED the modern zombie.  The infectious bite . . . shoot the head . . . everything.”