Peter Medak (born Medák Péter, 23 December 1937) is a Hungarian-born

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

and

television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the prod ...

of British and American productions.

Early life

Born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, he was the son of Elisabeth (née Diamounstein) and Gyula Medak, a textile manufacturer. His family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. In 1956, he fled his native country for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

due to the Hungarian Uprising. There he embarked on a career in the film industry, starting as a trainee and gradually rising to the position of film director.

Career

Medak was signed to direct

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

s for

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

in 1963. In 1967, he signed with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

to make feature films. His first such film was '' Negatives'' (1968). Some of his most notable other works are '' The Ruling Class'' (1972), '' The Changeling'' (1980), '' The Krays'' (1990) and ''

Let Him Have It ''Let Him Have It'' is a 1991 British drama film directed by Peter Medak and starring Christopher Eccleston, Paul Reynolds, Tom Courtenay and Tom Bell. The film is based on the true story of Derek Bentley, who was convicted of the murder of a p ...

'' (1991). Medak has also directed a number of TV episodes and films, including '' The Feast of All Saints'' (a

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

), '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'' and ''

Carnivàle ''Carnivàle'' () is an American television series set in the United States Dust Bowl during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The series, created by Daniel Knauf, ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005. In tracing the lives of disparate g ...

''.

Personal life

His marriage to his first wife, Katherine LaKermance, with whom he had two children, ended when she died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1972. He had two further children with his second wife, British actress Carolyn Seymour, from whom he was later divorced. Medak's third wife was

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

singer Julia Migenes; the marriage lasted from 1988 to 2003.

Partial filmography

* '' Negatives'' (1968) * ''

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1972) * '' The Ruling Class'' (1972) * '' The Third Girl From the Left'' (1973) * '' Ghost in the Noonday Sun'' (1974) * '' The Odd Job'' (1978) * '' The Changeling'' (1980) * '' The Babysitter'' (1980) * ''

Zorro, The Gay Blade ''Zorro, The Gay Blade'' is a 1981 American swashbuckling comedy western film from 20th Century Fox, produced by C.O. Erickson and George Hamilton, directed by Peter Medak, that stars Hamilton, Lauren Hutton, Ron Leibman, and Brenda Vaccaro. Th ...

'' (1981) * '' Cry for the Strangers'' (1982) * ''

Hart to Hart ''Hart to Hart'' is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset life ...

'' (1982) * ''

Faerie Tale Theatre Faerie Tale Theatre (also known as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre) is an American live-action fairytale fantasy drama anthology television series of 27 episodes, that originally aired on Showtime from September 11, 1982 until November 14, ...

'' (1984) ** Episode 3.03 "

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan ...

" ** Episode 3.05 " Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" ** Episode 4.02 "

The Snow Queen "The Snow Queen" ( da, Snedronningen) is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samli ...

" ** Episode 4.07 "

The Emperor's New Clothes "The Emperor's New Clothes" ( da, Kejserens nye klæder ) is a literary Folklore, folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 l ...

" ** Episode 6.03 " The Dancing Princesses" * ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

'' (1985) ** Episode 1.09 " Dead Woman's Shoes" * '' The Men's Club'' (1986) * ''The Metamorphosis, a Study: Nabokov on Kafka'' (1989) * '' The Krays'' (1990) * ''

'' (1991) * '' Romeo Is Bleeding'' (1993) * ''

Pontiac Moon ''Pontiac Moon'' is a 1994 adventure film directed by Peter Medak, and produced by Robert Schaffel and Youssef Vahabzadeh. The film stars Ted Danson as Washington Bellamy, a "pigheaded" science teacher in a small town of California, as well as M ...

'' (1994) * '' The Hunchback'' (1997) * '' Species II'' (1998) * ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

'' (2000) * '' The Feast of All Saints'' (2001) (TV mini-series) * ''

Masters of Horror ''Masters of Horror'' is an anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Origin In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, ...

'' (2007) ** Episode "

The Washingtonians "The Washingtonians" is the twelfth episode of the second season of ''Masters of Horror'', directed by Peter Medak. The episode is based on the short story written by Bentley Little. It details a man discovering a shocking secret about George Wa ...

" * ''

'' (2002) ** Episode 1.03 " The Buys" *''

'' (2003) ** Episode 1.04 "Black Blizzard" * ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

(2004) ** Episodes 1.6 " The Socratic Method" *'' Sex and Lies in Sin City'' (2008) *''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited h ...

'' (2009) ** Episode 2.06 "Peekaboo" *''

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Pu ...

'' (2013) ** Episode 1.04 "Œuf" ** Episode 2.03 "Hassun" *'' Dating Game Killer'' (2017) *''

The Ghost of Peter Sellers ''The Ghost of Peter Sellers'' is a 2018 documentary film directed by Peter Medak and produced by Paul Iacovou. A cautionary tale about filmmaking, it recounts the sequence of how Peter Sellers, one of the biggest comedy actors at the time, i ...

'' (2018)

References

External links

* *
Peter Medak
at Britmovie.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Medak, Peter 1937 births English-language film directors Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom Hungarian emigrants to the United States Hungarian Jews Hungarian refugees People from Budapest Living people Science fiction film directors