Producer known for Rambo, Total Recall dies
Vajna, who fled communist Hungary and found Hollywood success, was 74
BUDAPEST, Hungary — 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. He was 74.
Vajna, who produced many other films, died on Sunday at his Budapest home after a long illness, Hungary’s National Film Fund said.
Schwarzenegger remembered Vajna as “a dear friend and a revolutionary force in Hollywood.”
“He proved that you don’t need studios to make huge movies,” Schwarzenegger posted on Twitter. “He had a huge heart, and he was one of the most generous guys around. I’ll miss him.”
Stallone paid tribute to Vajna on Instagram, calling him “a pioneer” and “the man that made Rambo” happen. Vajna believed in First Blood, the first Rambo film, “when no one else did. This truly breaks my heart,” Stallone said.
Vajna was also owner of the TV2 Group, a Hungarian company that owns several television channels, including TV2, one of Hungary’s two main broadcasters and politically aligned closely with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government. Since 2011, Vajna had been a commissioner in the Orban government, in charge of developing Hungary’s film industry.
Hungarian films have won several top prizes at recent international festivals. In 2016, Son of Saul, financed mostly by Hungary’s National Film Fund, won the Oscar for best foreign language film.
The producer was born Andras Gyorgy Vajna in Budapest on Aug. 1, 1944, and escaped Hungary’s communist regime in 1956 with help from the International Red Cross. After some time in Canada, he was reunited with his family in Los Angeles.
After studying at UCLA, Vajna operated cinemas in Hong Kong, where he also established a successful wig-making company.
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 including 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.
He also produced several successful Hungarian films and was co-owner of Korda Studios, in the village of Etyek, near Budapest, where The Martian, Inferno and Hellboy II: The Golden Army were filmed.
Vajna is survived by his wife, Timea.