At the age of 81, Wolfgang Petersen passed away.

The 81-year-old Hollywood director Wolfgang Petersen has passed away

Wolfgang Petersen, 81 years old, passed away after a long and successful career in Hollywood.

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Wolfgang Petersen is often considered one of the most influential directors in modern cinema

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Wolfgang Petersen had been battling pancreatic cancer for some time and had been in treatment for it for over a year.

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Wolfgang Petersen was born in Germany in 1936 and started his career as a production assistant on the 1960s TV series "The Rat Patrol".

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He followed that up with the 1993 thriller "In the Line of Fire", starring Clint Eastwood, and the 2000 disaster movie "The Perfect Storm"

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n later years, Petersen directed the 2006 action movie "Air Force One" and the 2009 drama "Pompeii"

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He is survived by his wife, actress-producer Maria Borgel, and their two children

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