British filmmaker Hugh Hudson, director of the film Chariots of Fire (1981), died today at the age of 86 after suffering a "short illness," his family said in a statement to the media.
Hudson, author of the four-time Oscar-winning film, died at Charing Cross Hospital in London, the city where he was born, in 1936.
The actor Nigel Havers, one of the protagonists of Chariots of Fire, declared himself "devastated" by the death of the filmmaker, who was married with a son.
Hudson began his career directing documentaries and commercials for television, before making the leap to film and finding success with his first feature film, which was nominated for seven Oscars and won four statuettes.
The film, with a script by Colin Welland and soundtrack by Vangelis, is a historical drama centered on the experiences of two runners, Eric Liddell, a Scottish Christian, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew.
The film, which tells the story of these two athletes preparing to compete in the 1924 Paris Olympics, was "one of the best experiences of my professional life," the actor declared.
"I, like many others, owe him (Hudson) a huge part of everything that happened after (the film). I will miss him tremendously," Havers added.
After that success, Hudson filmed Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (Greystoke: the legend of Tarzan, the king of the monkeys, 1984), with Christopher Lambert in front of the cast, a film that garnered three statuette nominations of the Academy.
After those films, the British director never managed to make films with the same impact, and reaped resounding box office flops such as Revolution (Revolution, 1985), I Dreamed Africa (I dreamed of Africa, 2000) and The Journey Home (Journey home, 2014 ).
His latest feature film, Altamira (2016), which dealt with the discovery of the prehistoric caves of that name in Cantabria, was shot in Spain and featured Antonio Banderas in the lead role.
