Dutch director Fons Rademakers dies

GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Fons Rademakers, 86, the Dutch director of Academy Award-winning foreign language film "De Aanslag," died Thursday of emphysema in a Geneva hospital.

Rademakers began his career as an actor in Amsterdam during World War II, Zap2It.com said. He later studied film in Paris and Rome under acclaimed directors Jean Renoir and Vittorio de Sica.

In 1958, Rademakers became the first Dutch director to be nominated for an Oscar, for "Village on the River." He also directed "Max Havelaar," about corruption in Indonesia during Dutch colonial rule.

Although his career spanned more than 30 years, he's best known as the director of 1986's "De Aanslag" ("The Assault"). The film, which also won a Golden Globe, is about a boy witnessing the Nazis murdering his parents and learning the truth about the event as he grows up.

His final film, "The Rose Garden" -- starring Peter Fonda, Maximilian Schell and Liv Ullmann -- was released in 1989.