1 week Ago By Connor Surmonte
Ted Kotcheff, who directed Hollywood hits like “Weekend at Bernie’s” and the original “Rambo” film “First Blood,” has passed away. He was 94. The Canadian filmmaker’s family confirmed Kotcheff’s passing in a statement to the Canadian outlet The Globe and Mail.
He reportedly died on Thursday, April 10. Although perhaps best known for directing Sylvester Stallone in the John Rambo classic “First Blood” in 1982, Kotcheff was also well-regarded for directing comedies like “Fun With Dick and Jane” in 1977 and “Weekend at Bernie’s” in 1989. His other directing credits include the hit 1979 Nick Nolte sports film “North Dallas Forty” and the 1992 Tom Selleck dramedy “Folks!” After a 60-year filmmaking career, Kotcheff transitioned to television.
His last credited work was as an executive producer on the “Law & Order” spinoff series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which he did for 13 seasons, per Variety. But while Kotcheff is perhaps best known for “First Blood” and introducing the violent Vietnam War vet John Rambo, the late filmmaker reportedly turned down several offers to direct the action movie’s several sequels due to his opposition to the Vietnam War. “They offered me the first sequel, and after I read the script, I said, ‘In the first film, he doesn’t kill anybody.
In this film, he kills 75 people,’” Kotcheff told Filmmaker Magazine in 2016. “It seemed to be celebrating the Vietnam War, which I thought was one of the stupidest wars in history,” he continued at the time. “Fifty-five-thousand young Americans died, and so many veterans committed suicide.
I couldn’t turn myself inside out like that and make that kind of picture. Of course, I could have been a rich man today – that sequel made $300 million.” Peter Bart, who produced the 1977 Jane Fonda and George Segal comedy “Fun With Dick and Jane,” celebrated Kotcheff following the news of the director’s death.
“Ted Kotcheff brought a true wit and humanity to his films,” Bart, 92, said of his late friend and colleague, per Deadline . “He could evoke laughter at our foibles with ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ or at our frailties in ‘Fun with Dick and Jane.’ Wherever he worked, he brought great humanity to his work and stirred great affection among his actors.
” Kotcheff leaves behind his wife, Laifun Chung, and their two children, Alexandra and Thomas. He also shared three additional children, Aaron, Katrina and Joshua, with his first wife, actress Sylvia Kay. A cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
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