Nicolas Roeg, ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’ Director, Dies at 90

British filmmaker also directed Mick Jagger in 1970’s “The Performance”

Nicolas Roeg
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Nicolas Roeg, the British filmmaker known for offbeat and often controversial films like “Performance,” “Don’t Look Now” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” has died at the age of 90.

Roeg’s son, Nicolas Roeg Jr, told the BBC that his father passed away late Friday night.

Getting his start as a cinematographer, Roeg rose through the industry in the 1960s, later going on to direct his own films in the ’70s and ’80s.

His credits include Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s acting debut, “Performance,” in 1970; “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” led by a Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, in 1976; the Australia-set survival drama “Walkabout”; and the moody Julie Christie-Donald Sutherland thriller “Don’t Look Now.”

Roeg’s final film was the 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “The Witches” starring Anjelica Huston.

“RIP to Nicolas Roeg, a pioneering force of cinema who created some of the most affecting moments of beauty, terror and sadness ever seen,” the British Film Institute wrote in a tweet after news of Roeg’s death broke Saturday. “A true great if ever there was one.”

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