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Péter Medák (born 23 December 1937) is a Hungarian-British film and television director.

Early life

Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was the son of Elisabeth (née Diamounstein) and Gyula Medak, a textile manufacturer. His family was Jewish. In 1956, he fled his native country for the United Kingdom due to the Hungarian Uprising. There he embarked on a career in the film industry, starting as a trainee and gradually rising to the position of film director.

Career

Medak was signed to direct television films for MCA Universal Pictures in 1963. In 1967, he signed with Paramount Pictures to make feature films. His first such film was Negatives (1968).

Some of his most notable other works are The Ruling Class (1972), The Changeling (1980), The Krays (1990) and Let Him Have It (1991).

Medak has also directed a number of TV episodes and films, including The Feast of All Saints (a mini-series), Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire and Carnivàle.

Personal life

His marriage to his first wife, Katherine LaKermance, with whom he had two children, ended when she died in London in 1972. He had two further children with his second wife, British actress Carolyn Seymour, from whom he was later divorced. Medak's third wife was opera singer Julia Migenes; the marriage lasted from 1988 to 2003.

Partial filmography

• Negatives (1968)
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972)
• The Ruling Class (1972)
• The Third Girl From the Left (1973)
• Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1974)
• The Odd Job (1978)
• The Changeling (1980)
• The Babysitter (1980)
• Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)
• Cry for the Strangers (1982)
• Hart to Hart (1982)
• Faerie Tale Theatre (1984)
  • Episode 3.03 "Pinocchio"
  • Episode 3.05 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"
  • Episode 4.02 "The Snow Queen"
  • Episode 4.07 "The Emperor's New Clothes"
  • Episode 6.03 "The Dancing Princesses"
• The Twilight Zone (1985)
  • Episode 1.09 "Dead Woman's Shoes"
• The Men's Club (1986)
• The Metamorphosis, a Study: Nabokov on Kafka (1989)
• The Krays (1990)
• Let Him Have It (1991)
• Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
• Pontiac Moon (1994)
• The Hunchback (1997)
• Species II (1998)
• David Copperfield (2000)
• The Feast of All Saints (2001) (TV mini-series)
• Masters of Horror (2007)
  • Episode "The Washingtonians"
• The Wire (2002)
  • Episode 1.03 "The Buys"
• Carnivàle (2003)
  • Episode 1.04 "Black Blizzard"
• House (2004)
  • Episodes 1.6 "The Socratic Method"
• Sex and Lies in Sin City (2008)
• Breaking Bad (2009)
  • Episode 2.06 "Peekaboo"
• Hannibal (2013)
  • Episode 1.04 "Œuf"
  • Episode 2.03 "Hassun"
• Dating Game Killer (2017)
• The Ghost of Peter Sellers (2018)

References

1. ^ "Peter Medak". britmovie.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
2. ^ "Episode guide - episode 03 The Buys". HBO. 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-26.
3. ^ David Simon, Ed Burns (2002-06-16). "The Buys". The Wire. Season 1. Episode 3. HBO.
4. "Episode guide - episode 05 The Pager". HBO. 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-26.
5. David Simon, Ed Burns (2002-06-30). "The Pager". The Wire. Season 1. Episode 5. HBO.
6. ^ Peter Medak (director), William Schmidt (writer) (2003-10-05). "Black Blizzard". Carnivàle. Season 1. Episode 4. HBO.
7. "Peter Medak Biography, filmreference.com; accessed 22 December 2017.
8. "Julia Migenes profile". NNDB. Retrieved 19 March 2010.

External links

• Official website
• Peter Medak at IMDb
• Peter Medak at Britmovie.co.uk

• 1937 births
• English-language film directors
• Hungarian emigrants to the United States
• Hungarian Jews
• Hungarian refugees
• Mass media people from Budapest
• Living people
• Science fiction film directors
• Horror film directors
• British film directors
• British television directors
• 20th-century Hungarian Jews
• 21st-century Hungarian Jews
• 20th-century British Jews
• 21st-century British Jews
• Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom