Current Events > Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Air Force One) has passed away

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Wolfgang Petersen, whose German-language film Das Boot launched a successful Hollywood filmmaking career that included star-studded films like Air Force One and The Perfect Storm, has died, a representative told TheWrap. He was 81.

Petersen died Friday with his wife Maria Antoinette by his side after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Petersens film Das Boot or The Boat (1981) launched his career in Hollywood after the close-quarters WWII submarine drama received six Academy Award nominations. The film starred Jrgen Prochnow as the German U-boat Captain, and was made into an English-language miniseries by the BBC.

His first Hollywood venture was the live-action fantasy The NeverEnding Story (1984), which he co-wrote. The now-cult classic follows a young boy named Bastian (Barret Oliver) who stumbles upon a fantastical world accused via a magical book. The world merges with his own when and encroaching lack of imagination a burgeoning void called the Nothing threatens all of existence.

From there, Petersen was off to the races, and was in high demand for star-driven hit films in nearly every genre. He worked with a whos-who of Hollywood stars in the 1980s and 1990s, and his rapport with A-listers made him beloved among the moviemaking elite of the time.

The director went on to make more action-packed films like The Perfect Storm (2001) based on Sebastian Jungers nonfiction book and starred George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. Other works included Enemy Mine starring Dennis Quaid, Shattered with Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins and Greta Schacchi, In the Line of Fire starring Clint Eastwood, Outbreak, Air Force One, Poseidon and Troy.

Eastwood played a Secret Service agent traumatized by the assassination of John F. Kennedy in the 1993 film In the Line of Fire. In 1995, Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman, Renee Russo and Morgan Freeman spotlighted a killer virus as well as a wrought romantic relationship.

This is the guy who wrote and direct The NeverEnding Story. Rest in peace to him.