George P. Cosmatos

10 films directed

Biography

George Pan Cosmatos (January 4, 1941 in Florence, Italy - April 19, 2005 in Victoria, Canada) was a Greek/Italian film director. After studying film in London, he became assistant director to Otto Preminger on Exodus (1960), Leon Uris's epic about the birth of Israel. Thereafter he worked on Zorba the Greek (1964), in which Cosmatos had a small part as Boy with Acne. Cosmatos grew up in Egypt and Cyprus and is said to have spoken six languages. He was famous in Italy for the movies Rappresaglia (1973) with Marcello Mastroianni and The Cassandra Crossing (1976) with Sophia Loren. In 1979, he made the famous and successful World War II adventure movie Escape to Athena, starring a gigantic all star cast including Roger Moore, David Niven, Telly Savalas, Elliot Gould and Claudia Cardinale. Cosmatos was nominated for a 1985 Golden Raspberry Award for his role as director of Rambo: First Blood Part II starring Sylvester Stallone. He also directed another Stallone vehicle, Cobra, in 1986.

Late in his career, Cosmatos received more praise for Tombstone, a 1993 Western movie about Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. This film was particularly praised for the exceptional performance of Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. After his death it was revealed by Tombstone star Kurt Russell that Cosmatos had ghost-directed the movie on Russell's behalf. Sylvester Stallone recommended Cosmatos after the departure of the first director, and informed Russell that Cosmatos had also ghost-directed Rambo: First Blood Part II on Stallone's behalf.

George P. Cosmatos died of lung cancer on April 19, 2005 at the age of 64.

Most directed genres

Recurring actors

The career in numbers

US$ 174 mi Total budget from 7 film(s) with data
US$ 456 mi Total box office from 6 film(s) with data
US$ 25 mi Average budget from 7 film(s) with data
US$ 76 mi Average box office from 6 film(s) with data
6.1 Average rating from 8 film(s) with data
2.7× Return on investment from 6 film(s) with data

Budget and box office do not exist for every film in our records. Averages are computed over the films that carry the figure, and the count beside each one says how many.

Films directed

Film	Year	Budget	Box office	Rating
Shadow Conspiracy	1997	US$ 45 mi	US$ 2 mi	4.9
Tombstone	1993	US$ 25 mi	US$ 73 mi	7.6
Leviathan	1989	US$ 25 mi	US$ 16 mi	6.0
Cobra	1986	US$ 25 mi	US$ 49 mi	6.2
Rambo: First Blood Part II	1985	US$ 44 mi	US$ 300 mi	6.7
Of Unknown Origin	1983	US$ 4 mi	—	5.8
Escape to Athena	1979	—	—	5.7
The Cassandra Crossing	1976	US$ 6 mi	US$ 15 mi	6.2
Massacre in Rome	1973	—	—	6.3
Sin	1971	—	—	5.5