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Who Was Ted Kotcheff? Exploring Weekend at Bernie's and First Blood Director's Life and Legacy Amid His Death at 94
Ted Kotcheff, director of Sylvester Stallone's 1982 classic film, First Blood has passed away at the age of 94.
Trigger Warning: Mention of death.
Ted Kotcheff, director of Sylvester Stallone's 1982 classic film First Blood, which introduced the world to John Rambo, passed away at the age of 94 in Mexico due to heart failure. He left behind an illustrious legacy of filmmaking. The veteran director has led several hits, such as Uncommon Valor (1983), Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), etc.
Born William Theodore Kotcheff in 1931 in Toronto, Canada, he graduated with an English Literature degree from the University of Toronto and went on to direct numerous high-profile actors from the late Gene Hackman to George Segal and Jane Fonda.
Kotcheff reflected on the ethos of his filmmaking in an interview with Variety in 2016. He said, "I am not the judge of my characters, and that became part of my artistic credo. That’s how I approach all of my characters."
In 1982, Kotcheff took up the story of a war veteran, John Rambo, played by Stallone, which in turn received historic success. According to The Hollywood Reporter, First Blood had a budget of $16 million and ended up grossing over $125 million worldwide, which would be equivalent to $317 million today.
However, he was opposed to the idea of glorifying war that the Rambo Trilogy ended up portraying. He revealed to Filmmaker magazine, "They offered me the first sequel, and after I read the script I said, ‘In the first film he doesn’t kill anybody. In this film, he kills 75 people."
Kotcheff would not budge from his ethics despite the allure of financial gains, as he added, "I couldn’t turn myself inside out like that and make that kind of picture. Of course, I could have been a rich man today — that sequel made $300 million."
He later on directed several hits in widely variegated genres such as the cadaver comedy of 1989, Weekend at Bernie’s starring Andrew McCarthy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Jonathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser, or Tiara Tahiti, a 1962 British comedy-drama film featuring James Mason and John Mills, and more.
Ted Kotcheff and British actress Sylvia Kay wed in 1960, who appeared in his hit Wake in Fright. Kay died in January 2019 at 82. Kotcheff is survived by Laifun Chun, his second wife, and his children from both marriages.
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