'Rambo,' 'Total Recall,' 'Terminator' producer passes away

Read on the website Vestnik Kavkaza

Andy Vajna, a Hungarian-American film producer who worked on several 'Rambo' movies with Sylvester Stallone, 'Total Recall' with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Madonna’s 'Evita', has died in Budapest at the age of 74.

Vajna died on January 20 at his Budapest home after a long illness, Hungary’s National Film Fund said.

The producer was born Andras Gyorgy Vajna in Budapest on Aug. 1, 1944. In the mid-1970s, Vajna set up Carolco, a film production firm, with Mario Kassar. Besides the Rambo series, the two men were also behind films like 'Victory' — starring Stallone, Michael Caine and Pele; 'Red Heat' and 'Total Recall,' starring Schwarzenegger; and 'Angel Heart' and 'Johnny Handsome' with Mickey Rourke.

After leaving Carolco in 1989, Vajna’s films included 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,' 'Die Hard with a Vengeance,' 'The Scarlet Letter,' 'Nixon' and 'I Spy.'

Since 2011, Vajna had been a commissioner in the Orban government, in charge of developing Hungary’s film industry.