George P. Cosmatos

George Pan Cosmatos (4 January 1941 – 19 April 2005) was a Greco-Italian film director and screenwriter. Following early success in his home country with drama films such as Massacre in Rome with Richard Burton (based on the real-life Ardeatine massacre), Cosmatos retooled his career towards mainstream 'blockbuster' action and adventure films, including The Cassandra Crossing and Escape to Athena, both of which were British-Italian co-productions. After relocating to North America, he directed the horror film Of Unknown Origin. This was followed by some of his best-known work, including the action films Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra (both of which star Sylvester Stallone), the science-fiction horror film Leviathan, and the critically acclaimed Western Tombstone. 2Early life Cosmatos was born to a Greek family in Florence, Italy, and grew up in Egypt and Cyprus. He is said to have spoken six languages. After studying film at the London Film School, he became assistant director to Otto Preminger on Exodus (1960), based on Leon Uris's novel about the birth of Israel. Thereafter he worked on Zorba the Greek (1964), in which Cosmatos had a small part as Boy with Acne. 2Career Cosmatos found success in Italy for directing the films Rappresaglia (1973) with Marcello Mastroianni and The Cassandra Crossing (1976) with Sophia Loren. In 1979, he made the successful British World War II adventure movie Escape to Athena, starring an all-star ensemble cast including Roger Moore, David Niven, Telly Savalas, Elliott Gould and Claudia Cardinal