Film director Wolfgang Petersen dies at 81

• Film director Wolfgang Petersen dies.
• The German film director lost his life after a long battle with cancer.
• When did he die?

Film director Wolfgang Petersen died at the age of 81 after losing his fight against a serious illness. The creative mind behind Das Boot and The Perfect Storm lost his life at his home in Los Angeles and his passing was announced by his representative, Michelle Bega. Friends, colleagues and fans bid farewell to six-time Oscar nominee on social media.

The entertainment world has suffered significant casualties in recent months that have marked the end of an era. Such is the case of the death of Olivia Newton-John at 73.

THE CREATIVE MIND BEHIND DAS BOOT DIES

Wolfgang Petersen, the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic Das Boot propelled him into a successful Hollywood career that included the films In the Line of Fire, Air Force One and The Perfect Storm, died at the age of 81, The Associated Press reported.

The world of cinema has been in mourning and through social media, where people are sharing words of support and, above all, tributes for the films he directed that became popular favorites. The filmmaker’s passing surprised everyone, because the news was released almost a week after his death.

How did he die?

Petersen’s representative, Michelle Bega, confirmed the news and announced that the German filmmaker had died of pancreatic cancer. As doctors report, this type of cancer is one of the most dangerous and aggressive and in almost all diagnoses, it is revealed when it is already in the terminal phase.

«Petersen died Friday at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles after a battle with pancreatic cancer,» representative Michelle Bega told the media. The filmmaker’s death sparked a wave of messages of affection and respect for his hard work in the cinema.

Did he make the most expensive movie in history?

Petersen, born in the northern German port city of Emden, made two feature films before his 1982 breakthrough, Das Boot, then the most expensive film in German film history, The Associated Press reported. The movie became an icon of German culture and a reference-point in Petersen’s work.

The 149-minute film (the original cut lasted 210 minutes) chronicles the intense claustrophobia of life aboard a doomed German submarine during the Battle of the Atlantic, with Jürgen Prochnow as commander of the vessel. The filmmaker made one of the most famous films of German cinema. Filed Under: Filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen Dies

A Masterpiece?

Petersen, born in 1941, recalled running alongside American ships as a child as they dropped food. In the turmoil of post-war Germany, Petersen, who began in the theater before attending Berlin’s Film and Television Academy in the late 1960s, gravitated toward Hollywood movies with clear clashes between good and evil. John Ford was a major influence, the AP noted.

Das Boot launched Petersen as a filmmaker in Hollywood, where he became one of the leading creators of catastrophic action adventures in films spanning war (Troy in 2004, with Brad Pitt), the pandemic (the 1995 film inspired by the ebola virus Outbreak) and other disasters set in the ocean (The Perfect Storm in 2000 and Poseidon in 2006, a remake of The Poseidon Adventure, about the sinking of an ocean liner), reported AP. Filed Under: Filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen Dies