Hugh Hudson, the British director of the Academy Award-winning picture “Chariots of Fire” in 1981, has died. He was 86.
According to the BBC, Hudson died at the Charing Cross Hospital in London after a “brief illness,” according to his family. The Post has reached out to Hudson’s representative for comment.
The acclaimed drama’s star, Nigel Havers, also made a statement, saying he was “beyond grieved” by Hudson’s passing.
“‘Chariots of Fire’ was one of the best experiences of my professional life, and, like so many others, I owe much of what followed to him. “I will miss him tremendously,” Havers reportedly wrote.
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At the 1982 Academy Awards, the film won Best Picture, Original Score, Writing, and Costume Design. It was also ranked 19th on the British Film Institute’s list of the top 100 British films.
“I am beyond devastated that my great friend Hugh Hudson, who I have known for more than 45 years, has died,” said Nigel Havers, who appeared in 1981’s Chariots of Fire. Chariots of Fire was one of the most transformative events of my professional life, and I owe much of what came after him, as do so many others. I’ll miss him terribly.”
Hudson began his career in advertising before earning a job as a second unit director on Midnight Express with Alan Parker.
Three years later, his film Chariots of Fire, which portrayed the story of two British Olympic athletes in 1924, became an international success.
Hugh Hudson, the director of the Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire, died at the age of 86 after a brief illness. “Hugh Hudson, 86, beloved husband and father, died at Charing Cross hospital on 10 February following a short illness,” his family stated in a statement.
“I suppose David Puttnam [the producer] chose me because he thought I’d relate to the themes of class and racism,” Hudson told the Guardian in 2012. “I’d been sent to Eton because my family had gone there for generations, but I despised the discrimination.
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Colin Welland, a working-class youngster from Merseyside, understood it completely as well. As a result, it was a personal narrative for us.” It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four of them, including best picture.
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, starring Christopher Lambert, Ian Holm, and Andie MacDowell, was Hudson’s second feature. It was a box office success and got three Academy Award nominations. In 1985, he released Revolution, a historical drama starring Al Pacino.
My Life So Far (1999) and I Dreamed of Africa (2000) were among his other films (2000). He also directed an opera version of The Crucible and worked on the theatrical production of Chariots of Fire. His most recent credit was for co-writing the screenplay for The Tiger’s Nest, a 2022 adventure.