introduced Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo and grossed over $125 million. Though the Rambo sequels were massive hits, Kotcheff declined to return, saying they glorified war in a way he couldn’t support. He later found comedy success,

with Weekend at Bernie’s and produced Law & Order: SVU for 13 seasons. He is survived by his wife Laifun Chun and five children. A documentary on his life, The Apprenticeship of Ted Kotcheff, is in the works, narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.