Wolfgang Petersen, blockbuster director of Das Boot and Air Force One dies. He was 81
- German-born Petersen was nominated for Oscars for 1981′s World War II submarine drama ‘Das Boot’
- He went on to direct a number of blockbusters in Hollywood, including The Perfect Storm and Troy
German director Wolfgang Petersen, who achieved international fame with films Das Boot, Outbreak and Air Force One, has died from pancreatic cancer. He was 81.
Petersen, who directed Hollywood A-listers including Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt over a career spanning five decades, died in Los Angeles on Friday, a spokeswoman said.
Born in Emden, Germany in 1941, Petersen scored his first major success with World War II submarine thriller Das Boot, adapted from a novel of the same name about the Battle of the Atlantic.
The film earned him two Oscar nominations at the 1983 Academy Awards, including for best director, and Petersen released his first English-language film – children’s fantasy flick The NeverEnding Story – the following year.
He transitioned to Hollywood action and disaster movies in the 1990s, working with Eastwood and John Malkovich in assassination thriller In The Line of Fire, and directing Hoffman in pandemic-themed Outbreak.
Glenn Close, who starred alongside Ford in Petersen’s Air Force One, said that being directed by the German “remains a special memory”.