He headed the company until 1985, when he was forced to sell due to health problems (he was suffering from Parkinson's disease).
[3] In over five decades as a distributor, Shapiro introduced American cinema-goers to many European films, including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (d. Robert Wiene, 1920), The Battleship Potemkin (d. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925), The Grand Illusion (d. Jean Renoir, 1937), Les Cousins (d. Claude Chabrol, 1959) and Breathless (d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1960), and was instrumental in helping end the American boycott of German films after World War II.
In many interviews and public comments, Raimi and Bruce Campbell (the chief creative forces behind The Evil Dead) have described Shapiro as an eccentric but extremely talented film producer, and frequently do an impression of Shapiro, with a thick, raspy voice, explaining how to market their film.
Irvin Shapiro died at his home in New York on January 1, 1989, due to complications from Parkinson's disease.
In the ending credits to the 2013 film Evil Dead, the director and producers present a message written in memory of Shapiro.