Ted Kotcheff, director of First Blood and Weekend at Bernie’s, died Friday, as reported by Canadian publisher the Globe and Mail. He was 94. His death was confirmed by his family, though no cause has been disclosed.
The Canadian filmmaker launched his career in in the late Fifties, directing film and television productions including Fun with Dick and Jane, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and more over the following decades. His credits also include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and North Dallas Forty.
North Dallas Forty, in particular, is regarded as one of the greatest sports films of all time. “Ted Kotcheff’s down-and-dirty sports drama does double duty as a broad satire as it delves into the corrupt underbelly of professional football — the drugs, the sex, the backstabbing, and the bureaucratic incompetence,” Rolling Stone wrote in 2020. “Here’s…
