John Irvin, Director Of ‘Hamburger Hill’ & ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ TV Drama, Dies Aged 86
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- John Irvin died peacefully on 11th August at age 86 at the UK home of his sister-in-law, surrounded by family, according to his producers.
- Irvin directed more than 30 features across TV, documentaries, and independent film, including Hamburger Hill (1987), Raw Deal (1986) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Ghost Story (1981) with Fred Astaire — the third-highest-grossing horror film of its year, taking $24M at the box office.
- The 1979 BBC adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Sir Alec Guinness, scored multiple BAFTA wins and an Emmy nomination; Guinness later wrote that he "admired a director with balls behind the camera."
- Irvin won his first BAFTA for the documentary short Inheritance (1963), narrated by Richard Burton and presented by Audrey Hepburn, and gave Anthony Hopkins his first TV role in The Peasants Revolt (1969).
- Born in Wallasey, Cheshire on 7th May 1940, Irvin attended Durham School and funded his London Film School enrollment by teaching Latin at a preparatory school.
- At the time of his death, Irvin was completing a final edit of Mandela's Gun, a project six years in the making and previously screened in the UK Houses of Parliament in 2017 in honor of Nelson Mandela, plus a documentary about South African musician Abdullah Ibrahim.
Why it matters: Irvin's 86-year life traced an unusually wide arc of British and Hollywood screen history — from a Richard Burton-narrated 1963 documentary short to a 1986 Schwarzenegger action vehicle, with the 1979 Le Carré adaptation in between. His death closes a career that bookended the BBC's prestige literary-drama era and late-'80s Hollywood action, while his unfinished Mandela's Gun joins a short list of late-life projects cut short by death.
Ask SkimNews
