Nicolas Roeg, Director of ‘Don’t Look Now’ and ‘Walkabout,’ Dies at 90

Nicolas Roeg, a distinctive voice in world cinema best known for directing “Don’t Look Now” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” has died at age 90. The filmmaker’s son, Nicolas Roeg Jr., confirmed the news with a brief note: “He was a genuine dad. He just had his 90th birthday in August.” No cause of death has been announced.

Released in 1973, “Don’t Look Now” stands as one of the most acclaimed horror films ever made — as well as one of the most controversial. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland play a married couple mourning the death of their son in Roeg’s adaptation of the short story by Daphne du Maurier, and a graphic sex scene involving the two stars proved scandalous for years after the film’s release.

Roeg’s genre-spanning career, which began in 1970 with the Mick Jagger–starring “Performance,” also included “Walkabout,” “Bad Timing,” “Insignificance,” and “The Witches,” among others; prior to becoming a director, he worked as a cinematographer on such films as “The Masque of the Read Death,” “Doctor Zhivago,” and “Fahrenheit 451.” His final feature was 2007’s “Puffball.”

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Born August 15, 1928 in London, Roeg was married three times and had six children. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2011. Tributes are already pouring in: