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Wolfgang Petersen, the Oscar-nominated director of “In The Line Of Fire”, “Air Force One” and “The Perfect Storm,” has died due to pancreatic cancer, his representative confirmed to Fox News Digital. He was 81.
The German filmmaker died peacefully on Friday at his Brentwood, California home in the arms of his wife of 50 years, Maria Antoinette.
In 1981, Petersen made his breakthrough with the German-language WWII film “Das Boot”, which he wrote and directed. The submarine epic received six Academy Award nominations, with Petersen scoring nods for best director and best adapted screenplay.
The success of “Das Boot” launched Petersen to international fame and paved his way to directing Hollywood blockbusters. His first English-language project was the 1984 fantasy film “The NeverEnding Story”, which he followed up with the 1985 science fiction action drama “Enemy Mine.”
The 1984 fantasy film “The Neverending Story” is Petersen’s first English-language movie.
(Photo by dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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Petersen’s 1993 film “In The Line Of Fire” debuted to critical acclaim and became a box office smash. Starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo, the political action thriller was nominated for three Oscars.
He next found commercial success with the 1995 action thriller “Outbreak”, which was led by Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kevin Spacey and Patrick Dempsey.
In 1997, Petersen directed the blockbuster political action thriller “Air Force One”, starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Glenn Close, which became the fifth highest-grossing movie of the year.
In 1997, Petersen directed “Air Force One” starring Glenn Close, Harrision Ford and Gary Oldman. Close called being directed by Petersen a special memory.
(Photo by Ursula Düren/picture alliance via Getty Images)
In a statement obtained by Fox News Digital following Petersen’s death, Close said, “Being directed by Wolfgang on ‘Air Force One’ remains a special memory. Even though the script was thrilling and incredibly intense, I remember a lot of laughs, especially in the scenes around the huge table in the War Room.”
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She continued, “Wolfgang set a remotely controlled camera that could rotate in place, seamlessly covering all of us, one after another. You knew the camera would pause on you by his hilarious direction while setting up the shot.
“He would point to us in turn and say, ‘Acting…acting…NO acting…NO acting…ACTING… aaaacting!’ He didn’t waste anyone’s time. My memory is of a man full of joie de vivre who was doing what he most loved to do.”
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker died due to pancreatic cancer on Friday at his home in Brentwood, California.
(Photo by Gisela Schober/Getty Images for Bavaria Film)
Petersen went on to direct two back-to-back blockbusters including the 2000 disaster film “The Perfect Storm” starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane and the 2004 period piece “Troy”, which was headlined by Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom.
After his 2006 disaster film “Poseidon” performed poorly at the box office, Petersen took a ten-year hiatus. He returned with the 2016 heist comedy “Vier gegen die Bank”, which marked his first German-language project since “Das Boot” and would become his final film.
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In addition to his wife Maria Antoinette, Peterson is survived by his son Daniel, his daughter-in-law Berit and two grandchildren Maja and Julien. His representative confirmed to Fox News Digital that his funeral service will be private.
Fox News Digital’s Larry Fink contributed to this report
