Peter Medak
Encyclopedia
Peter Medak is a Hungarian-born
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 films.

Early life

He was born in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 to a Jewish family, but in 1956 fled his native country for England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 due to the Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....

. There he began a career in the film business, starting as a trainee and gradually rising until he became a film director.

Career

Medak was signed to direct television films for MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...

 Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 in 1963. In 1967 he signed with Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 to make feature films. His first feature was Negatives
Negatives (1968 film)
Negatives is a 1968 British drama film directed by Peter Medak. It stars Peter McEnery and Diane Cilento.-Cast:*Peter McEnery as Theo*Diane Cilento as Riangard*Glenda Jackson as Vivien*Billy Russell as Old Man*Norman Rossington as Auctioneer...

, released in 1968.

Since then he has experienced an uneven career, producing some significant successes and a number of what were considered commercial failures. Some of his most notable works are: The Ruling Class
The Ruling Class
The Ruling Class is a 1972 British black comedy film. It is an adaptation of Peter Barnes' satirical stage play which tells the story of a paranoid schizophrenic British nobleman who inherits a peerage. The film costars Alastair Sim, William Mervyn, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, Carolyn Seymour,...

 (1972); The Changeling
The Changeling (film)
The Changeling is a 1980 horror film directed by Peter Medak and starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere . The story is based upon events that writer Russell Hunter said he experienced while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion of Denver, Colorado.-Plot:Scott stars as Dr...

 (1980); The Krays
The Krays (film)
The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...

 (1990), written by the artist and dramatist Philip Ridley
Philip Ridley
Philip Ridley is a British artist working with various media.- Biography :Ridley was born in Bethnal Green, in the East End of London, where he still lives and works. He studied painting at St. Martin’s School of Art and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan...

; and Let Him Have It
Let Him Have It
Let Him Have It is a 1991 British film, which was based on the true story of the case against Derek Bentley, who was hanged for murder under controversial circumstances on 28 January 1953. While Bentley did not directly play a role in the murder of PC Sidney Miles, he received the greater...

 (1991). He has also directed a number of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 episodes and movies, including the The Feast of All Saints
The Feast of All Saints
The Feast of All Saints is a novel by Anne Rice.-Plot summary:This novel is about the gens de couleur libres, or free people of color, who lived in New Orleans before the Civil War. The gens de couleur libres were the descendants of European settlers of Louisiana, particularly the French and...

 mini-series, Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

, The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...

, and Carnivàle
Carnivàle
Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes...

.

Personal life

His first wife, with whom he has two children, died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in the 1970s. He had two further children with his second wife, Carolyn Seymour
Carolyn Seymour
Carolyn Seymour is an English actress, best associated with portraying the role of Abby Grant in the BBC series Survivors in 1975....

, an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 actress, from whom he was later divorced. Medak was married to opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer Julia Migenes
Julia Migenes
Julia Migenes is an American mezzo-soprano working primarily in musical theatre repertoire. She was born on the Lower East Side of New York to a family of Greek and Irish-Puerto Rican descent...

 from 1988 to 2003.

Partial filmography

  • Negatives
    Negatives (1968 film)
    Negatives is a 1968 British drama film directed by Peter Medak. It stars Peter McEnery and Diane Cilento.-Cast:*Peter McEnery as Theo*Diane Cilento as Riangard*Glenda Jackson as Vivien*Billy Russell as Old Man*Norman Rossington as Auctioneer...

     (1968)
  • The Ruling Class
    The Ruling Class
    The Ruling Class is a 1972 British black comedy film. It is an adaptation of Peter Barnes' satirical stage play which tells the story of a paranoid schizophrenic British nobleman who inherits a peerage. The film costars Alastair Sim, William Mervyn, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, Carolyn Seymour,...

     (1972)
  • A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972)
  • Ghost in the Noonday Sun
    Ghost In The Noonday Sun
    Ghost in the Noonday Sun is a 1973 British comedy film, directed by Peter Medak, starring Peter Sellers, Anthony Franciosa and Spike Milligan. The script was written by Evan Jones and Ernest Tidyman with "additional dialogue" attributed to Spike Milligan. It was produced by Thomas Clyde & Gareth...

     (1973)
  • The Odd Job
    The Odd Job
    The Odd Job is a 1978 British comedy film starring Graham Chapman . It tells the story of a man named Arthur Harris who is recently abandoned by his wife. He becomes so depressed that he hires an "odd job man" to kill him...

     (1978)
  • The Changeling
    The Changeling (film)
    The Changeling is a 1980 horror film directed by Peter Medak and starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere . The story is based upon events that writer Russell Hunter said he experienced while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion of Denver, Colorado.-Plot:Scott stars as Dr...

     (1980)
  • Zorro, The Gay Blade
    Zorro, The Gay Blade
    Zorro, The Gay Blade is a 1981 feature film. This comedy features George Hamilton in a Golden Globe-nominated dual role as both Don Diego de la Vega and his gay twin brother Bunny Wigglesworth, née Ramon De La Vega.-Synopsis:...

     (1981)
  • The Men's Club
    The Men's Club
    The Men's Club is a 1986 drama film directed by Peter Medak, based on the novel of the same name by Leonard Michaels. It stars Roy Scheider, Harvey Keitel, Frank Langella, Treat Williams, David Dukes and Richard Jordan...

     (1986)
  • The Metamorphosis, a Study: Nabokov on Kafka (1989)
  • The Krays
    The Krays (film)
    The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...

     (1990)
  • Let Him Have It
    Let Him Have It
    Let Him Have It is a 1991 British film, which was based on the true story of the case against Derek Bentley, who was hanged for murder under controversial circumstances on 28 January 1953. While Bentley did not directly play a role in the murder of PC Sidney Miles, he received the greater...

     (1991)
  • Romeo is Bleeding
    Romeo Is Bleeding
    Romeo Is Bleeding is a darkly comic 1993 crime film starring Gary Oldman and Lena Olin, directed by Peter Medak. The film's title was taken from a song by Tom Waits....

     (1993)
  • Species II
    Species II
    Species II is a 1998 sequel to the 1995 film Species. It stars Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger, all of whom reprise their roles from the first film. It also features actor James Cromwell as "Senator Judson Ross"...

     (1998)
  • The Feast of All Saints (2001)
  • Masters of Horror
    Masters of Horror
    Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...

     (2007)
    • Episode "The Washingtonians"
  • The Wire
    The Wire (TV series)
    The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...

     (2002) episodes:
    • Episode 1.03 "The Buys"
    • Episode 1.05 "The Pager"
  • Carnivàle
    Carnivàle
    Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes...

     (2003)
    • Episode 1.04 "Black Blizzard"
  • House
    House (TV series)
    House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

     (2004)
    • Episodes 1.6 The Socratic Method
      The Socratic Method (House)
      "The Socratic Method" is the sixth episode of the first season of House, which premiered on the Fox network on December 21, 2004. The title refers to the Socratic method, credited to Socrates...

  • Breaking Bad
    Breaking Bad
    Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...

    (2009)
    • Episode 2.06 "Peekaboo"

External links

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