German-American film director Wolfgang Petersen passed away at the age of 81. He was known as one of the best action directors of recent decades, with films likeDas Boot,The NeverEnding Story, andAir Force One.
Petersen was born on June 24, 2025, in the city of Emden in northwest Germany. He grew up as a young boy in post-WWII Germany and went on to direct plays at the famous Ernst Deutsch Theater in the 1960s. From 1966-1970, he attended the Film and Television Academy in Berlin, and after graduating he got work on the popular TV seriesTatort(“Crime Scene”).
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According to Deadline, Petersen died in his home Friday from pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Maria Antoinette, his son Daniel, and two grandchildren. The young artist’s first feature film wasthe psychological thrillerOne or the Other of Usin 1974, which won two major German film awards. His second film,Das Boot(“The Boat”) in 1981, was an international sensation that received six Academy Award nominations and is still regarded as one of the best war films ever made. The film depicts the wartime experiences of a German U-Boat crew in WWII who are disillusioned with the Nazi Party but must nonetheless carry on the business of the war.
WithDas Boot, Petersen demonstrated his ability to masterfully handle both technically challenging action sequences but also smaller emotional moments of character drama, a skill that would eventually make him one of the most in-demand directors of his time. After the success ofDas Boot, Petersen attempted to enter the Hollywood market with his first English-language film, the now belovedfantasy filmThe NeverEnding Story. With a budget of around $26 million, it was the most expensive film ever produced outside the United States or the Soviet Union at the time, with a budget twice the size of his previous war epic.
Petersen was indeed able to enter Hollywood, but his first decade in the industry only produced two duds, 1985’sEnemy Mineand 1991’sShattered. In 1993, however, he hit his stride withIn the Line of Fire. The political thrillerstars Clint Eastwoodas a secret service agent who must stop a former CIA operative (played by John Malkovich) from assassinating the president. The critical and commercial success ofIn the Line of Fire, which even included three Academy Award nominations, cemented Petersen’s place as one of the preeminent directors of action thrillers.
He followed this up with a series of major successes that helped define a generation of action cinema and saw him work with some of the biggest names in the world. These include the global pandemic filmOutbreakin 1995, theHarrison Ford action thrillerAir Force Onein 1997, the disaster filmThe Perfect Stormin 2000, the Homeric war filmTroyin 2004, and the cruise ship disaster filmPoseidonin 2006. His final film, the crime comedyVier gegen die Bank(“Four Against the Bank”) in 2016, saw him work in the German language for the first time sinceDas Bootalmost 40 years earlier.
