Chariots Of Fire director Hugh Hudson dies aged 86

LONDON – Hugh Hudson, British director of the hit film Chariots Of Fire (1981), died last Friday at the age of 86, his family said.

“Hugh Hudson, 86, beloved husband and father died at Charing Cross Hospital on Feb 10, 2023 after a short illness,” said his family in a statement.

Born in August 1936 in London, Hudson had a meteoric rise to success with Chariots Of Fire, which tells the story of two British athletes, including Harold Abrahams, a young Jewish man who was plagued by anti-Semitism in his quest for Olympic gold in 1924.

The film picked up four Oscars in 1982, including for Best Picture and Best Original Score for the soundtrack by Greek composer Vangelis, who died aged 79 in May 2022.

“I am beyond devastated that my great friend Hugh Hudson, whom I have known for more than 45 years, has died. Chariots Of Fire was one of the greatest experiences of my professional life,” said British actor Nigel Havers, one of the stars of the iconic film.

The British Film Institute said Chariots Of Fire became “one of the decade’s most controversial British films” due to its perception as a “radical indictment of establishment snobbery”.

In a 2012 interview with the Guardian newspaper, Hudson said he thought film producer David Puttnam had chosen him to direct the film “because he sensed I’d relate to the themes of class and racial prejudice.

“I’d been sent to Eton because my family had gone there for generations, but I hated all the prejudice,” Hudson said of his time at the English boarding school.

Beyond his greatest cinematic success, Hudson directed other films, such as Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes (1984), and had a career in advertising and documentary film-making.

He had a son from his first marriage, and had been married since 2003 to British actress Maryam d’Abo, known for her role as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the James Bond film The Living Daylights (1987). AFP