German filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen has died, his production company confirmed Tuesday.
He was 81.
Petersen is said to have passed away peacefully after battling pancreatic cancer last Friday at his Brentwood, CA, home and was in the arms of his wife of 50 years, Maria Antoinette, Deadline reported.
After breaking through with his World War II film Das Boot in 1981, the director went on to achieve huge success in Hollywood with blockbuster films including Air Force One, In the Line of Fire and Troy.
Air Force One director Wolfgang Petersen dead at 81: German filmmaker passes away after glittering career in Hollywood
In 1984, his fantasy film The NeverEnding Story was the most expensive film produced outside of the United States, but also became a box office success and launched a film series.
Petersen – who was born on 14 March 1941 in Emden, Germany – began directing plays in the 1960s at Hamburg’s Ernst Deutsch Theater.
He eventually attended the Film and Television Academy in Berlin, and produced films for German television after graduating.
His first feature film came in 1974, the psychological thriller One or the Other of Us, which was based on the novel Einer von uns beiden by Horst Bosetzky.
Famed: The filmmaker is seen directing acting legend Clint Eastwood on set of In the Line of Fire in 1993
Glittering career: Petersen poses with The Black Eyed Peas star Fergie at the premiere of his remake of the disaster movie Poseidon in 2006 in LA