Peter Yates 1928-2011

Posted by on January 10th, 2011   Filed under: Industry News
Source: Deadline Hollywood

Well, last week we passed along the unfortunate news that Pete Postlethwaite had died, and now this week Hollywood has lost another Pete. Peter Yates, director of such classics as Bullitt, Murphy’s War, and the Jay Cheel favourite Krull has passed away after a long illness. He also directed The Friends of Eddie Coyle, which turned up at the top of Ben Affleck’s list of best heist films just a few days ago. He was 82 years old.

Yates had a long and fruitful career and directed a wide variety of films in a number of different genres starting with Summer Holiday starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows in 1963. In addition to some of the classic crime films for which is best known, he also directed Peter Benchley’s The Deep, Suspect starring Cher and Dennis Quaid, Year of the Comet, and Mother, Jugs & Speed starring Bill Cosby, Harvey Keitel and Raquel Welch. He also earned Best Director and Best Picture nominations for both The Dresser and Breaking Away. What are your favourite Peter Yates films?

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  • http://www.agencyprotalent.com/planbfromouterspace PlanBFromOuterSpace

    “Krull” was a childhood favorite, the trusty standby for when the REAL Star Wars was checked out at the neighborhood video store. Speaking of which,I’m surprised that the DVD release of “Krull” didn’t feature Liam Neeson’s mug all over the cover. I recently introduced “Krull” to my roommate, a fantasy/sci-fi/anime/RPG enthusiast, and she couldn’t understand what I saw in it. Then again, just about any positive review of anything she likes starts off with something like “It’s no Boondock Saints, but…”, so it didn’t hurt my feelings or anything.

    How has “Krull” NOT been re-made already, even as just some shitty made-for-SyFy flick? I mean, I know that the original is INCREDIBLE, but it’s hardly untouchable. Throw the Glaive up on a poster and you’ve got money in the bank.

  • Mark In Ottawa

    Bullitt was awesome.

    That car chase will NEVER be beaten. French Connection was close (same co-ordinator).

    Rest easy, Mr.Yates.

  • Xu

    Bullitt?Friends of Eddie Coyle are all top notch noirish action film, and the Hot Rock is one hell of precious comedy heist gem, anyone should check this out!

  • projectgenesis

    As an IU grad, Breaking Away will always be the closest of his films to my heart. One of the best sports movie ever.

  • Hugh

    He will always rightly be lauded for the iconic car chase scenes in Bullit.

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