Born András György Vajna in Budapest in 1944, Vajna fled Hungary after the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising and studied cinematography at UCLA to later become a well-known producer of mainly action movies. These include the first three Rambo movies, Evita, Red Heat, Total Recall and Air America.
He returned to his native Hungary and was appointed Government Commissioner for the Hungarian film industry in 2011 and essentially reformed movie production along market requirements, while also establishing the state-financed Hungarian National Film Fund that recently financed such titles as the Oscar-winning Son of Saul.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also said his farewell on social media, borrowing a phrase from Terminator.
“We are bidding farewell to the greatest Hungarian film producer. Hasta la vista, Andy! Thank You for everything, my Friend!” – he wrote on his Facebook page.
Title image: MTI/Zoltán Balogh
