Mourning the US director: Peter Bogdanovich is dead

The film “The Last Picture Show” made Peter Bogdanovich famous. In the 1970s he was considered one of the most important directors of “New Hollywood”. Now the filmmaker has died at the age of 82.

The US director Peter Bogdanovich, who became known for films like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon”, is dead. According to his daughter Antonia Bogdanovich, the filmmaker died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 82 several media reported unanimously.

Colleagues reacted in dismay to the news of his death. “I’m devastated. He was a wonderful and great artist,” said filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola of the AFP news agency. “He was a close friend and a master of cinema,” wrote director Guillermo del Toro on Twitter. Bogdanovich created masterpieces.

“The Last Picture Show” makes Bogdanovich famous

Bogdanovich was born in Kingston, New York, in 1939. He was an influential film critic before switching behind the camera and making his first feature film in 1968 with “Moving Targets”. His greatest success was in 1971 with The Last Picture Show, a portrait of the American provinces in the 1950s. The film with leading actress Cybill Shepherd was nominated for eight Academy Awards and awarded in two categories.

With the comedy “What’s Up Doc” – with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal – and the melancholy road movie “Paper Moon” – with the young Tatum O’Neal – further successes followed. Bogdanovich was considered an important representative of the era of “New Hollywood”.

The director also caused a stir with his private life. He had an affair with the actress Dorothy Stratten, who became known as a Playboy model, with whom he directed the comedy “They All Laughed” (1981) and who was murdered by her husband before the film opened in theaters. Bogdanovich later married Stratten’s younger half-sister. After a bankruptcy, he moved from Los Angeles to New York and wrote film reviews again. He also appeared again and again as an actor in films and series, including in the mafia series “The Sopranos”.