Mike Hodges, Get Carter and Flash Gordon director, dies at 90

Mike Hodges, the renowned British director best known for his films Get Carter and Flash Gordon, died of heart failure at his home in Dorset, England, per PEOPLE. He was 90.

The filmmaker's death was confirmed by his close friend and collaborator Mike Kaplan, who told Entertainment Tonight that Hodges died on Dec. 17. The pair previously worked together on Hodges' 2003 crime drama I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, which starred Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

"For a part of his career, he was under-appreciated, and he is not anymore," Kaplan told the outlet. "Get Carter was a huge success all over the world. He had a great sense of humor. All of his movies were entrenched with humor and personality."

EW has reached out to representatives for Hodges, but did not immediately hear back.

Everett Collection Mike Hodges died at age 90.

Born in Bristol, England in 1932, Michael Tommy Hodges originally began his professional life as a chartered accountant before spending two years aboard a Royal Navy minesweeper for his mandatory military service. The experience, Hodges later recounted to the Guardian, changed his entire viewpoint on life.

"For two years, my middle-class eyes were forced to witness horrendous poverty and deprivation that I was previously unaware of," he said. "I went into the navy as a newly qualified chartered accountant and complacent young Tory, and came out an angry, radical young man."

The director made his first foray into the entertainment industry as a teleprompter operator, but soon found himself behind the camera as he began both writing and directing for a collection of British television shows including 1964's The World in Action, 1966's Tempo, and 1968's The Tyrant King.

Hodges' big break came in 1971 when he wrote and directed the dark crime thriller Get Carter. The film, which has been compared to The Godfather, was adapted from Ted Lewis' novel Jack's Return Home and centered around Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a cutthroat London mobster who travels home to investigate his brother's death. A remake of the classic film, starring Sylvester Stallone, was released in 2000.

Following the success of Get Carter, Hodges went on to adapt and direct a series of hit thrillers throughout the early '70s, including 1972's Pulp, which also starred Caine, as well as the 1974 sci-fi horror film The Terminal Man.

In 1980, Hodges directed the glitzy space opera Flash Gordon. Based on the Alex Raymond comic book strip, the cult classic — which was soundtracked by Queen — saw its titular quarterback travel to planet Mongo to defeat the evil emperor Ming the Merciless. The filmmaker later went on to shoot several Queen music videos, including for the film's title track.

Hodges continued to helm well-received films throughout the '80s, '90s, and early '00s, including the 1989 thriller Black Rainbow, 1998's Croupier, and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. At the time of his death, he was in the process of writing and directing his autobiographical documentary All At Sea.

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