German director Wolfgang Petersen, known for World War II underwater epic Das Boot and Air Force One, has died aged 81.
The filmmaker died Friday at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles after a battle with pancreatic cancer, Rep. Michelle Bega said.
His 1982 breakthrough Das Boot chronicled the intense claustrophobia of life aboard a doomed German submarine during the Battle of the Atlantic, with Jurgen Prochnow as the submarine’s commander.
The 149-minute film, billed as an anti-war masterpiece, was nominated for six Oscars and was then the most expensive film in German cinema history.
Petersen’s films featured Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford and Rene Russo.
Das Boot launched Petersen as a filmmaker in Hollywood, where he became one of the top directors of action-adventure films, including In The Line Of Fire in 1993 with Clint Eastwood as a service agent secrets tasked with protecting the president. which was followed by the Ebola-inspired outbreak of 1995 starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman.
Petersen returned to the presidency in 1997 with Air Force One.
Harrison Ford starred as a president forced into a fight with terrorists who hijack Air Force One. The film was a hit with $315m (£260m) at the global box office.
Das Boot
Petersen’s 2000 film The Perfect Storm, based on the true story of a Massachusetts fishing boat lost at sea, starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and a 100-foot computer-generated wave.
With a budget of $120 million, the film earned $328.7 million.
For Peterson, who grew up on the northern coast of Germany, the sea has long held his fascination.
Other Petersen films include The NeverEnding Story and Troy starring Brad Pitt.
Harrison Ford and Petersen at the premiere of Air Force One in 1997. Photo: AP
Born in 1941, the filmmaker remembers running alongside American ships as a child as they threw food.
In the confusion of post-war Germany, Petersen – who started out in the theater before attending the Berlin Film and Television Academy in the late 1960s – turned to Hollywood films with clear clashes between good and evil.
He was first married to German actress Ursula Sieg. When they divorced in 1978, he married Maria-Antoinette Borgel, a German screenwriter and assistant director.
He is survived by Borgel, his son Daniel Petersen and two grandchildren.
