Peter Medak Dies: ‘The Ruling Class’ & ‘Romeo Is Bleeding’ Director Was 88 — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Peter Medak died Tuesday, October 27, in Los Angeles at 88; his family announced the death and said he died peacefully, with no cause stated, and he is survived by four children and five grandchildren.
- Associated British-Pathe took Medak on as a trainee after he fled Hungary to England in 1956 at 18, following a childhood in Budapest marked by being barred from school at 13 under the Communist regime and his father's years in prison.
- MCA Universal Pictures brought Medak to Los Angeles in 1963 on a television-directing contract for the series Court Martial.
- Paramount signed Medak in 1967 to direct his first feature, Negatives, starring Glenda Jackson; his next two films were the black comedies A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) with Alan Bates and The Ruling Class (1972) with Peter O'Toole, the latter earning Medak a Palme d'Or nomination and O'Toole an Academy Award nomination.
- The Changeling (1980) starred George C. Scott, anchoring a run of 27 features that also included The Krays (1990), Let Him Have It (1991) and Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) with Gary Oldman.
- The Wire and Breaking Bad joined Homicide: Life on the Street and Chicago Hope among Medak's television credits, contributing to 59 episodes directed alongside his 27 features.
- The Ghost of Peter Sellers, Medak's 2018 documentary, won Best Documentary at the Beverly Hills Film Festival; he also directed some of the earliest music videos for Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd and the opera La voix humaine with Julia Migenes.
Why it matters: The loss is concrete for film and TV archives: one director behind The Changeling, The Ruling Class and episodes of The Wire and Breaking Bad, spanning 27 features and 59 television episodes from Negatives (1967) to The Ghost of Peter Sellers (2018). The family cited no cause, only a peaceful death, leaving his refrain: 'you never stop directing.'
Ask SkimNews
