Hungarian-born Peter Medak escaped to England after the 1956 uprising in his homeland. He spent an apprenticeship rising from assistant cameraman to second assistant director with the 1962 remake of "The Phantom of the Opera". The following year, he began directing for TV for Universal and entered features in 1968 with "Negatives". Medak was responsible for one of the most deliriously vicious satires of English upper-crust folly, "The Ruling Class" (1972), featuring a tour de force central performance by Peter O'Toole. The director demonstrated his comedic touch with the middling "Zorro, the Gay Blade" (1981). The best known of Medak's subsequent films, "The Krays" (1990), was a violent look at a rather different segment of English society which featured pop singers Gary and Martin Kemp in the roles of two of Britain's most notorious gangsters while "Let Him Have It" (1991) was a based-on-fact story of a 50s murder case that involved a teenager of questionable intelligence. He also helmed the stylish contemporary noir "Romeo Is Bleeding" (1993). More recently, Medak has concentrated on small screen work, helming episodes of the acclaimed NBC series "Homicide: Life on the Street" and the TNT remake "The Hunchback" (1997), starring Mandy Patinkin and Salma Hayek.
- Born:
December 23, 1937 in Budapest, Hungary
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Job Titles:
Director, Assistant cameraman, Assistant producer, Executive producer
Significant Others
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Wife: . mother of Medak s children
Milestones
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1956 Escaped from Budapest and went to England during Hungarian uprising
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1958 Worked in major British film studios as assistant cameraman, assistant director and second unit director
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1962 First feature film credit, Phantom of the Opera (as second assistant director)
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1962 Signed long-term contract with Universal studios in Hollywood where he worked as asistant producer and second unit director on TV productions, Arrest and Trial , Channing and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
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1964 Returned to London to set up Universal s English operation as executive producer; work included producing and directing some episodes of TV series, Court Martial
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1966 First credit as associate producer, Kaleidoscope
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1966 First credit as second unit director, Funeral in Berlin
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1967 First feature film as associate director, Fathom (also second unit director)
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1968 Directed first feature, Negatives
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1972 Helmed The Ruling Class starring Peter O Toole
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1981 Had modest success with the comedy Zorro, the Gay Blade
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1990 Returned to the milieu of London with the biopic The Krays , about the rise and fall of British gangster-brothers
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1993 Helmed the outlandish noirish Romeo Is Bleeding
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1994 Directed episodes of the NBC police drama Homicide: Life on the Street
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1997 Helmed the TNT remake of The Hunchback starring Mandy Patinkin and Salma Hayek
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1998 Directed Species II
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Began film training at ABPC studios in Budapest at age 19