'Rambo' director dead at 64

[Agamemnon]

'Rambo' director dead at 64
Monday, April 25, 2005 Posted: 1238 GMT (2038 HKT)

VICTORIA, British Columbia (AP) -- Director George P. Cosmatos, best known
for box-office hits "Rambo" and "Tombstone," died last week. He was 64.

Cosmatos had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, his friend and fellow
director Richard Donner said Saturday.

"George was just a wonderful, bigger-than-life character," Donner said. "You
never forgot his entrance and hoped there would never be an exit."

Known for an ability to fix troubled projects and create blockbuster films,
he delivered what many consider his finest achievement in 1993 --
"Tombstone," the film about legendary American lawman Wyatt Earp starring
Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell.

Cosmatos dismissed criticism of violence in "Rambo," the 1985 film about a
U.S. combat veteran who returns to Vietnam on a one-man mission to rescue
soldiers missing-in-action.

"What's with these prejudiced people? They're for censorship, not a free
society," Cosmatos said. "It's a psychological release for people to have a
hero who can do the fighting and dirty work while we eat our popcorn."

Born in Florence, Italy and raised in Egypt and Cyprus, Cosmatos spoke six
languages and was an avid bibliophile with a passion for cigars and film
restoration.

[choro-nik]

"Rambo" director dead? Maybe he should have kicked the bucket before
directing such a "Rambo" film.
--
choro-nik
********

"Agamemnon" <agam...@hello.to.NO_SPAM> wrote in message
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[Frappe Boy]

Thanks for the news. He was a friend of family.

[David Edenden]

Its is a coincidence that Ted Kocheff directed the first Rambo. Ted, as we
can all agree, is a "Macedonian-Bulgarian-Canadian-American". He currently
produces one of the "CSI" shows on TV. His brother, Tim, was an executive
with both CBC and CTV.

"choro-nik" <chor...@tvcom.net> wrote in message
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