Peter Medak, who directed episodes of iconic TV shows including Breaking Bad, The Wire and House alongside a string of celebrated films, has died aged 88.
The Hungarian-born filmmaker and actor passed away this week in Los Angeles after a career spanning six decades in Hollywood and British cinema.
Medak directed 27 feature films, including the supernatural horror The Changeling, the British gangster drama The Krays and the satirical comedy The Ruling Class, while also establishing himself as a television director with credits on some of America’s most acclaimed dramas.
His death comes more than a decade after the conclusion of Breaking Bad, the crime drama starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul that followed a chemistry teacher’s transformation into a drug kingpin.
The series, created by Vince Gilligan, ran for five seasons between 2008 and 2013 and became one of television’s most celebrated crime dramas.
Medak directed the season two episode “Peekaboo”, which originally aired in 2009 and followed Jesse Pinkman, played by Paul, as he confronted a couple responsible for stealing from one of his drug dealers.
The episode also featured a storyline involving Walter White, played by Cranston, as he struggled with his increasingly complicated personal life and criminal activities.
Medak’s television career extended well beyond Breaking Bad.
He also directed episodes of HBO’s The Wire, the Baltimore-set crime drama created by David Simon, which examined policing, drug trafficking, politics and institutions across five seasons.
His work on The Wire included the third-season episode “Back Burners”, which aired in 2004. The director’s death was confirmed by his family, who said he died peacefully.
No cause of death has been publicly disclosed.
Actor Malcolm McDowell, 83, who worked with Medak on the 1970 film Figures in a Landscape, paid tribute to his longtime friend on Instagram.
McDowell wrote: “One of my oldest and dearest friends, Peter Medak, has left us. He cast me in Figures in a Landscape at the beginning of my career. He was a lovely director. The Krays, The Ruling Class, The Changeling, Romeo is Bleeding. We remained lifelong friends. I loved him very much. RIP.”
Medak is survived by his four children – Christopher, Joshua, Karen and Cornelia – and five grandchildren, named Sacha, Marlowe, Ryden, Oliver and Anders.