Weekend at Bernie’s Director Ted Kotcheff Dead at 94

Ted Kotcheff, the director behind Weekend at Bernie’s, First Blood, and more, died at the age of 94 of heart failure in Mexico, his daughter confirms to The Canadian Press. He was living in Mexico during his retirement with his wife, where he “died of old age, peacefully, and surrounded by loved ones,” says his son, Thomas, to CBC Canada. His 94th birthday was just a few days ago. “Ted was an integral part of the SVU family for over 13 years. He was not only a great producer and director, he was also a close friend. I will miss him,” Dick Wolf shared to Variety of his collaborator on SUV.

From action films like the debut Rambo film First Blood to Westerns like Billy Two Hats, there wasn’t a genre that Kotcheff wouldn’t direct. He started his entertainment career in public television broadcasting in Canada before moving across the pond to the U.K. in 1958. There, Kotcheff produced the British anthology drama Armchair Theatre during the show’s height. His first film, the British comedy Tiara Tahiti, became the start of his directing career in cinema, and after several other made-for-tv films, he got his first film into Cannes: 1971’s Wake in Fright. It was Australia’s entry and a critically acclaimed film that helped kickstart the Austrailian New Wave movement.

Once Kotcheff got to Hollywood, it was off to the races. Throughout the 80s, he bounced different genres in Hollywood: a comedy with Fun with Dick and Jane, a sports movie with North Dallas Forty, and an action film with First Blood before ending the decade with one of his biggest hits, Weekend at Bernie’s. Eventually, he returned to television, becoming a long-time producer on Law and Order: SUV until 2012.

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