German director
Wolfgang Petersen,
who achieved international fame with the films "The Neverending Story '' (THE CARD), '' U Boot 96" (THE CARD), "Lethal Virus" and "Air Force One" but also the most recently "Troy," died of pancreatic cancer, a spokeswoman said.
He was 81 years old.
Petersen, who has directed famous Hollywood actors including Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt in a career spanning five decades, died Friday in Los Angeles.
Born in Emden, Germany, in 1941, Petersen achieved his first major success with the World War II submarine thriller "U Boot 96", adapted from a novel of the same name about the Battle of the Atlantic.
The film earned him two Oscar nominations in 1983, including Best Director, and Petersen made his first English-language film - the children's fantasy film "The Neverending Story" - the following year.
He moved on to Hollywood action and catastrophic films in the 1990s, working with Eastwood and John Malkovich on the murder thriller. "
Glenn Close, who starred opposite Ford in Petersen's "Air Force One", told AFP that being directed by him "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," he wrote.
"My memory is of a man full of joie de vivre who was doing what he loved most," Close added.
In the 2000s, Petersen directed Clooney in "The Perfect Storm" and Pitt in "Troy".
He died at his residence in Brentwood, Los Angeles, in the arms of his wife of 50 years, Marie Antoinette.
Petersen also leaves behind his son Daniel, his wife Berit and two grandchildren, Maja and Julien.
