Canadian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff, known for directing films like The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, First Blood, and Weekend at Bernie’s, has passed away.
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His family shared the news with Canada’s The Globe and Mail on Friday. Kotcheff was 94.
In addition to his film work, Kotcheff was an executive producer for 13 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, directing seven episodes along the way.
Kotcheff’s directorial career spans a wide range of genres. Yet, he is perhaps best known to mainstream audiences for two iconic films: the 1982 action classic First Blood, which introduced Sylvester Stallone as the troubled Vietnam veteran John Rambo, and the 1989 dark comedy Weekend at Bernie’s.
Kotcheff’s filmography features notable works such as the 1977 original Fun with Dick and Jane, starring Jane Fonda and George Segal, and the 1974 Richard Dreyfuss comedy-drama The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. His final directorial effort, Borrowed Hearts (1997), starring Roma Downey, aired on CBS.
Kotcheff’s filmmaking journey extended beyond the big screen, as he first made his mark in television by directing live dramas, per The Globe and Mail. He transitioned to feature films in 1962, debuting with the British comedy Tiara Tahiti, which starred the acclaimed James Mason.
Ted Kotcheff Avoided Directing Sequels to His Most Popular Films
First Blood earned over $125 million globally, according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, Kotcheff had no interest in directing Stallone in the subsequent Rambo flicks.
“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,’” he explained to Filmmaker magazine back in 2016. “It seemed to be celebrating the Vietnam War, which I thought was one of the stupidest wars in history.”
“Fifty-five-thousand young Americans died and so many veterans committed suicide,” he added.”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.”
Meanwhile, Kotcheff switched gears with the cult comedy Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), a movie that proves even a dead guy can steal the show. The plot involves two hapless insurance employees (Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman) who go to ridiculous lengths to convince partygoers that their deceased, embezzling boss (Terry Kiser) is still kicking.
Kotcheff was reluctant to take on a sequel, admitting he had exhausted all the dead-man jokes, per THR.
Kotcheff is survived by his wife, Laifun Chung, and their children, Thomas and Alexandra.