Flash Gordon director Mike Hodges dies aged 90
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Mike Hodges first shot to recognition writing and directing British gangster film Get Carter.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
LONDON – Mike Hodges, the British director of gritty crime drama Get Carter (1971) and space opera film Flash Gordon (1980), has died at the age of 90, the media reported on Wednesday.
He died last Saturday at home in Dorset, south-west England, his long-time friend and producer Mike Kaplan told The Guardian and American trade publication Variety.
Hodges first shot to recognition writing and directing British gangster film Get Carter, which also helped establish English actor Michael Caine as an emerging acting star.
Both men immediately collaborated again in the comedy thriller Pulp (1972).
Eight years later, Hodges directed arguably his biggest film, Flash Gordon, about the comic-strip character created in the 1930s.
Other notable credits during his decades-spanning career include The Terminal Man (1974), Croupier (1998) and his final feature film, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003).
British writer and broadcaster Matthew Sweet was among those who paid tribute to Hodges.
“A true master. A furious restless talent. An unassailable body of work. Loved the films. Loved the man,” he tweeted.
Hodges is survived by his wife Carol Laws, his sons Ben and Jake, and five grandchildren. AFP
