British film director Nicolas Roeg dies, aged 90
This man was a genius. I have many of movies in my collection and it is obvious I need to add more.
Nicolas Roeg at the 2012 London Critics' Circle Film Awards
London (CNN) — Influential British film director Nicolas Roeg has died at the age of 90, his family have told the UK's Press Association.
Roeg died on Friday night, his son Nicolas Roeg Junior told the Press Association. "He was a genuine dad," he said. "He just had his 90th birthday in August."
Candy Clark, director Nicolas Roeg, and David Bowie on the set of "The Man Who Fell to Earth."
Roeg's most influential work came in the 1970s and 80s, where he directed a number of controversial and startling films -- often starring rock stars of the day.
In "Performance" (1970), Roeg cast Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger as a reclusive superstar losing his mind and his identity in a decadent London mansion.
The following year, his film "Walkabout" saw Jenny Agutter cast as a young girl abandoned in the Australian outback with her brother.
"Don't Look Now" (1973) is perhaps his most famous movie -- a horror thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie set in Venice.
Roeg directed David Bowie in "The Man Who Fell To Earth" (1976), with the singer winning acclaim for his performance as an alien, crash-landed and marooned in 1970s New York.
Bowie later described working with Roeg as "one of the more important experiences that I've ever had."
"He has a depth, and a quality as a human being that I admire."
Roeg was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011.
