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Wolfgang Petersen
Sign in to saveGerman film director (1941–2022)
Wolfgang Petersen was a German film director who created movies from the 1970s until his death in 2022. He is remembered as an influential filmmaker whose work shaped cinema during his lifetime.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Film & TV
Emden, Germany
Wolfgang Petersen was a German-born screenwriter, producer and film director who spent most of his career in the United States. In the 1960s he began working directing plays at the Ernst Deutsch Theater in Hamburg. After becoming interested in theater in Berlin and Hamburg, Petersen attended the Berlin Film and Television Academy (1966-70). His first productions were for German state television,…
Known for
- U-96, The True Story of 'Das Boot' — Self (archive footage)2023
- Das Boot Revisited: An Underwater Success Story — Self - Das Boot Screenwriter and Director2021
- Open Wounds – A Journey through German Genre Films2017
- Stardust Hollywood - Sternenstaub und Götterwelten — Self2013
- Der Bernd — Self2012
- Wolfgang Petersen: Back to the Boat — Self2011
- Filmlegenden. Deutsch — Self2006
- Gottschalk meets Petersen — Himself2005
- Starbuck Holger Meins — Self2002
- The Directors — Self1999
via TMDB
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Wolfgang
- Family name
- Petersen
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Germany
- Place of birth
- Emden
- Place of death
- Brentwood
- Occupation
- director
- Educated at
- Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Notable work
- Poseidon
- Field of work
- film production
- Image
- Wolfgang Petersen - Poseidon Premiere.jpg
- Height
- 1.78
- Number of children
- 1
- Work location
- Hollywood
Show 12 more facts
- date of birth
- 1941-03-14
- Commons category
- Wolfgang Petersen
- name in native language
- Wolfgang Petersen
- start of work period
- 1967-00-00
- related category
- Category:Films directed by Wolfgang Petersen
- member of
- Deutsche Filmakademie
- end of work period
- 2016-00-00
- date of death
- 2022-08-12
- manner of death
- natural causes
- cause of death
- pancreatic cancer
- place of burial
- Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film and television director, screenwriter and producer. His international breakthrough was the war film Das Boot (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He subsequently directed the blockbuster fantasy film The Never Ending Story (1984), based on the 1979 novel of the same name.
After moving to the United States in the mid-1980s, Petersen directed his first American production, the science-fiction film Enemy Mine (1985). He directed a variety of major studio productions through the mid-2000s, including In the Line of Fire (1993), Outbreak (1995), Air Force One (1997), The Perfect Storm (2000), Troy (2004) and Poseidon (2006).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Wolfgang Petersen” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.