Wolfgang Petersen has died aged 81.
The Hollywood director, known for his work on Troy and Air Force One, died after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
He is said to have died peacefully at his Brentwood residence on Friday "in the arms of his wife" Maria Antoinette, Deadline has reported.
Petersen was began his career in Germany when he attended the Film and Television Academy in Berlin from 1966 until 1970.
He directed his first films for German TV and went on to make his first theatrical film debut in 1974 on psychological thriller One or the Other of Us.
Petersen went on to direct an adaptation of of Alexander Ziegler's autobiographical novel of homosexual love, 1977's Die Konsequenz. At the time, it had been considered incredibly radical and one network refused to broadcast it.
His first English language film was 1984's The NeverEnding Story, though his name became well-known in Hollywood after directing 1993 assassination thriller In The Line of Fire, starring Clint Eastwood.
After the film became a box office hit, he went on to direct 1995 suspense thriller Outbreak, featuring Dustin Hoffman, and 1997 blockbuster Air Force One.
Petersen had been in the running to direct the first Harry Potter film, but he ended up pulling out.
During the 2000s, he directed The Perfect Storm (2000) and Troy (2004). He went on to direct £132million epic Poseidon, but it performed poorly at the box office.
It wasn't until 10 years later that Petersen directed another film - heist comedy Vier gegen die Bank, which was his first German language film since 1981's Das Boot.
