“Deep” director Yates dies at 81

BerNews -

British director Peter Yates literally submerged himself in his work when he was making the movie blockbuster “The Deep” in Bermuda in the summer of 1976.

The man who described himself as a “barely passable swimmer” before production began on the adaptation of Peter Benchley’s thriller about vacationers who stumble upon two hidden treasures on Bermuda’s reefs — Spanish gold and World War Two-era morphine — ended up diving more than 600 times during the course of the shoot.

Mr. Yates, a four-time Academy Award nominee, died at his home in England on Sunday. He was 81.

He last visited Bermuda to attended a reunion celebration marking the 25th anniversary of “The Deep’s” production at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute along with author Mr. Benchley and the film’s star Jacqueline Bisset.

Released in the summer of 1977 — and the second highest-grossing film of that year after “Star Wars” –”The Deep” was successfully marketed as a follow-up of sorts to Steven Spielberg’s phenomenally successful 1975 adaptation of Mr. Benchley’s “Jaws.”

Novice producer Peter Guber bought the movie rights to “The Deep” in 1976 before the book had even been published.

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