Ted Kotcheff, ‘First Blood’ and ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ Director, Dies at 94

Ted Kotcheff, the Canadian filmmaker who introduced moviegoers to Sylvester Stallone’s traumatized Vietnam War veteran John Rambo with “First Blood” and helmed comedies like “Weekend at Bernie’s,” “Fun With Dick and Jane” and “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” died Thursday. He was 94.

His death was confirmed by his family to Canadian publication The Globe and Mail.

After beginning his career in Canadian television and working in the U.K. industry, Kotcheff broke through with his 1974 feature “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” an adaptation of Mordechai Richler’s 1959 coming-of-age novel starring then-rising star Richard Dreyfuss. The film took home the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and earned an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay (for Richler and Lionel Chetwynd), launching Kotcheff’s career in the American film industry.

In Hollywood, Kotcheff turned in box office hits like the marital satire “Fun With Dick and Jane,” starring George Segal and Jane Fonda, and the football insider drama “North Dallas Forty,” starring Nick Nolte. But his most enduring feature came in 1982, with the release of the Sylvester Stallone actioner “First Blood.”

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