Enlarge image Bernd Eichinger in Monaco in 1999 (© dpa - Bildfunk) Washington/ Berlin Jan 25, 2011
German filmmaker Bernd Eichinger, who produced hits such as Das Boot, The Name of the Rose and The Neverending Story, has died, his production company announced on January 25.
Eichinger, 61, died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, during dinner with family and friends, according to his Munich-based production company Constantin Film.
"We are all shocked by this inconceivable news and our hearts go out to his family and friends," employees at Eichinger's company said in a statement. "For over 30 years Bernd was at the heart of Constantin Film and influenced the film industry nationally as well as internationally."
Eichinger, who made his home in Los Angeles, produced films ranging from Christiane F (1981), the true tale of a drug-addicted girl in Berlin, to The Neverending Story (1984), based on the global bestseller of the same name by the late German fanstasy author Michael Ende, to the Hollywood blockbuster The Name of the Rose (1986), based on the masterful historical novel by Umberto Eco and starring Sean Connory as an ingenious crime-solving medieval monk.
Eichinger's credits as a screenwriter included 2004's Downfall, about Adolf Hitler's surreal final days hiding out in his Berlin bunker, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
He also produced the Oscar-nominated The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), based on the bestselling non-fiction account by German journalist Stefan Aust of a group of radical leftists who terrorized West Germany in the 1970s.
Eichinger also backed the lush and bizarre Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), based on the 1985 novel by Patrick Süskind, which was directed by Tom Tykwer with an international cast that included Dustin Hoffman.
"Bernd Eichinger was courageous, prepared to take risks, tempestuous, forgiving, straightforward and principled. He had standards that not only made him a great producer, but also an exceptional personality," Munich-based German Films Service + Marketing said in a statement.
"His death is a great loss for the international film business."
Related Links:
Luminaries Mourn Death of Film Producer Bernd Eichinger - Deutsche Welle
Constantin Film - Munich
Bernd Eichinger - IMDB
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