Director Peter Medak, whose career spanned British classics such as The Krays and The Changeling alongside episodes of Breaking Bad and The Wire, has died at the age of 88. His family confirmed the news, saying he died peacefully on Tuesday, October 27, although no cause of death has been revealed.
Career Highlights and Tributes
The Hungarian-born filmmaker worked with some of Britain's biggest actors, including Glenda Jackson, Alan Bates, Tom Courtenay, Peter Sellers, Gary Oldman and Malcolm McDowell. McDowell paid tribute on Instagram, writing: "One of my oldest and dearest friends, Peter Medak, has left us. He cast me in FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE at the beginning of my career. He was a lovely director. The Krays, The Ruling Class, The Changeling, Romeo is Bleeding. We remained lifelong friends. I loved him very much. RIP."
Other tributes flooded in on social media, with fans praising his range. One Facebook user wrote: "R.I.P to the talented director Peter Medak. He made some superb movies, including The Krays, The Ruling Class, Let Him Have It, & Romeo is Bleeding. But for me, he also made cinema's scariest ghost movie, 1980's The Changeling."
Another added: "Rest in peace, Peter Medak. I've never actually seen what most people considered the director's best movie, The Ruling Class, but he also helmed The Krays, which was terrific; Romeo Is Bleeding, which is batshit crazy and entertaining; and one of my all-time favourite horror movies, The Changeling."
Television and Film Legacy
Medak directed episodes of numerous TV shows, including Homicide: Life on the Street, Hart to Hart, Space: 1999, Magnum P.I., Law & Order: SVU, St. Elsewhere, Chicago Hope, House and Cold Case, in addition to Breaking Bad and The Wire.
He began his career in 1968 with the erotic thriller Negatives, featuring Glenda Jackson in one of her first films. In 1972, he directed an adaptation of Peter Nichols' black comedy A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, starring Alan Bates and Janet Suzman. That same year, The Ruling Class earned lead actor Peter O'Toole an Oscar nomination.
In 1980, he turned to horror with The Changeling, starring George C. Scott as a grieving composer caught in a supernatural mystery. Directors Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Amenábar have all praised the movie, with Spielberg screening it for his crew on 1982's Poltergeist to set the tone for that horror classic.
Later Work and Final Farewell
Another notable film was the 1990s British gangster drama The Krays, starring Spandau Ballet brothers Gary and Martin Kemp as the real-life British hardmen. He also gave future Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston his first film role in 1991's Let Him Have It, in which Eccleston played Derek Bentley, a British man controversially hanged for the murder of a policeman under the legal principle of joint enterprise, despite not firing the fatal shot.
A further tribute reflected: "We just lost another legend today. Peter Medak, the veteran director whose remarkable career spanned The Ruling Class and The Changeling to episodes of The Wire, Breaking Bad and Hannibal, has passed away at 88...What makes Medak's legacy remarkable is its range. A filmmaker who emerged in the era of Peter O'Toole was still directing television in the age of Walter White and Hannibal Lecter. More than half a century of storytelling, and generations of viewers may have loved his work without ever realising the same man was behind it. Rest in peace, Peter Medak."
