The 90-year-old British director Mike Hodges, whose works include Get Carter, Croupier, The Terminal Man, and Flash Gordon, has died at the age of 90.
Hodges’ death was verified to the Guardian by Mike Kaplan, a devoted friend, and producer of his final feature film, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead. Hodges passed away on Saturday at his Dorset home. No specific cause of death was revealed.
Early Career of Mike Hodges
Get Carter (1971) and Pulp (1972), followed by Croupier (1998) and I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (his final picture), served as the bookends for Hodges’ career (2003). Additionally, he made the campy cult favorite Flash Gordon.
Hodges first held a position as a chartered accountant before spending two years as a minesweeper for the Royal Navy. In the northern fishing ports of England.
He “witnessed tremendous poverty and hardship that I was previously unaware of” there, an encounter that, in the future, he said had influenced Get Carter. In a letter to the Guardian, he claimed, “I entered the navy as a newly trained chartered accountant and complacent young Tory and came out a furious, radical young man.
Hodges began his career in the show business by operating teleprompters for British television, where he was able to learn about the production of television.
He started off writing scripts
But his abilities eventually led to him producing and helping news and documentary shows. In 1969 and 1970, he wrote, directed, and produced the thrillers Rumour and Suspect for ITV Playhouse. As a result, he was asked to adapt Ted Lewis’ book, Get Carter.
Michael Caine portrays the titular London mobster who seeks his own brand of vengeance when his brother is killed in Newcastle, set against a working-class backdrop in northern England. Get Carter, which was first released in 1971 and quickly became popular, was seen as England’s equivalent to The Godfather.
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The 1978 horror movie Damien: Omen 2, which Hodges co-wrote and was slated to direct, was abandoned by Hodges after three weeks on set. Hodges stated that during a contentious discussion about budgets, a producer pulled out a loaded revolver and placed it on the table.
Hodges was then called in to complete the space opera Flash Gordon in 1980. When director Nicolas Roeg departed the production.
Mike Hodges was born on 29 July 1932 in Bristol, England. He was of English nationality. Hodges completed his chartered accounting degree. After he served two years of his national duty on the lower deck of a minesweeper for the Royal Navy.
Mike Hodges Professional Career
Hodges was hired as a teleprompter operator in British television. He had time to begin creating scripts thanks to the employment. Which also offered him the chance to watch how the studios operated. One of these was Some Will Cry Murder, which was created for the ABC television show Armchair Theatre. Even though it was never done, it let him earn enough writing commissions to leave his technician job.
With series like Sunday Break for ABC Television, World in Action for Granada Television, and the arts programs Tempo and New Tempo for Thames Television, he quickly advanced to producer/director rank after that.
Alongside his cinematic work, he has produced a number of critically acclaimed television movies. Such as The Manipulators (1973), Squaring The Circle (1984), Dandelion Dead (1994), and The Healer (all written by Michael Chaplin) (1994; scripted by G. F. Newman). Additionally, Hodges worked with Federico Fellini on the English-language adaptation of And the Ship Sails On (1983).
Mike Hodge Wife, Family Background, and Net worth
Mike Hodges was married to Jean Hodges from 1963-1982. He later got married to Carol Laws. He has 2 sons, Ben and Jake Hodges, and 5 grandchildren; Marlon, Honey, Orson, Michael, and Gabriel.
As of 2023, Mike Hodge has an estimated net worth of at least $1.43 million.
