In addition to his extensive feature career, Canadian-Bulgarian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff worked on NBC’s venerable crime drama Law & Order’ SVU for its first 13 seasons as a producing director. He started as a co-executive producer, earning a quick promotion to executive producer at the start of Season 2.
Following Kotcheff’s death at the age of 94, the he was remembered by former SVU star Chris Meloni.
“Ted Kotcheff was producing director on SVU during my time there,” Meloni wrote on Instagram Saturday. “I called him the Blustery Bulgarian. I loved that man. He was a master director- check his bio- and great company. To me his masterpiece was Wake In Fright.”
Probably best known for directing the first Rambo movie, First Blood, Weekend at Bernie’s and Fun with Dick and Jane, Kotcheff also helmed and co-wrote the Australia-set 1971 thriller Wake in Fright, starring Gary Bond and Donald Pleasence, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.
“It left me speeches,” Martin Scorsese once said of the pic, which was described by critic Roger Ebert as “powerful, genuinely shocking and rather amazing.”
Law & Order: SVU, created and executive produced by franchise boss Dick Wolf, is now wrapping its 26th season.
“Ted was an integral part of the SVU family for over 13 years,” Wolf told Deadline Friday. “He was not only a great producer and director, he was also a close friend. I will miss him.”
Kotcheff was born in Toronto to Bulgarian immigrant parents. He was awarded Bulgarian citizenship in 2016 and received a major award from the Bulgarian Consulate in Los Angeles in 2022 for his contribution to the arts.
