Get Carter director Mike Hodges has died at the age of 90, it has been announced.
His close friend, Mike Kaplan, who was a producer on Hodges’ final feature film I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, confirmed his death on Tuesday. Hodges, who was also known for films including Croupier, The Terminal Man and Flash Gordon, died at his home in Dorset on Saturday. However, the cause of his death has not yet been confirmed.
The movie mogul was best known for his acclaimed crime dramas, such as the 1971 release Get Carter, which starred Michael Caine and was largely filmed in the North East. Caine played London gangster Jack Carter who returns to his native North East to avenge the death of his brother, Frank.
Read More: 10 pictures looking back at Michael Caine filming Get Carter in the North East
It was filmed in and around Newcastle, Gateshead and County Durham. And it made a car park in Gateshead famous - a multi-storey building at Trinity Square, which has since been demolished.
Mike Hodges also directed 1980’s Flash Gordon film, which featured music done by Queen. In addition to directing, he wrote and produced various projects over the years, reports The Mirror.
After making his last feature film in 2003 in I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Hodges made the video documentary, namely, Queen: Greatest Video Hits 2. The group had contributed the memorable score to Hodges’ Flash Gordon decades earlier and the 2004 feature documentary Murder by Numbers, co-directed by Paul Carlin and addressing the popularity of serial killer movies over the last several decades.
Hodges also wrote plays including Soft Shoe Shuffle (1985) and Shooting Stars and Other Heavenly Pursuits'(2000), the latter of which was adapted for BBC radio. There was also the radio play King Trash (2004) and his first novel, Watching the Wheels Come Off, which was published in 2010.
Born in Bristol in 1932, Hodges first worked as a chartered accountant, then spent two years serving on a Royal Navy minesweeper around fishing ports in the north of England before moving into the world of movies. Hodges is survived by his wife Carol Laws, his sons Ben and Jake, and five grandchildren, Marlon, Honey, Orson, Michael and Gabriel.
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