‘First Blood’ director Ted Kotcheff dead at 94
The Canadian director, Ted Kotcheff, has passed away at the age of 94. While he had a long career in both television and film, he was perhaps best known for helming the Rambo movie First Blood.
A statement by his son, Thomas Kotcheff, revealed, “He died of old age, peacefully, and surrounded by loved ones.” The filmmaker was born in 1931 in Toronto and began his career by working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in his early 20s.
However, in 1957, he decided to move to England to find greater career opportunities, subsequently working in theatre and television. He worked on the West End, directing the award-winning Maggie May, as well as working on the TV show Armchair Theatre.
Before he became widely known for his movies in the 1970s, Kotcheff directed a few British productions including Tiara Tahiti and Life at the Top. Yet, it was 1971’s Wake in Fright, the Australian New Wave film, that helped him to earn further acclaim as a filmmaker.
He followed that with movies like the comedies The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, and Fun with Dick and Jane, and the western Billy Two Hats. Kotcheff directed First Blood in 1982, signing onto the project after several years of cast and crew changes. It was Kotcheff who offered the role of Rambo to Sylvester Stallone.
The movie was a hit, spawning the popular franchise that made Stallone a star. Kotcheff went on to make a few other action movies, like Uncommon Valor and The Shooter, but none were as successful as First Blood. He mainly stuck to comedies before returning to television in the late 1990s and 2000s, working most prominently on the team for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
His daughter, Kate Kotcheff, told The Canadian Press, “He was an amazing storyteller. He was an incredible, larger than life character [and] he was a director who could turn his hand to anything.”
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