Portrait of Wolfgang Petersen

Birthday profile

Wolfgang Petersen

German film director (1941–2022)

Born
March 14, 1941
Died
August 12, 2022
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1941

About Wolfgang Petersen

Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film and television director, screenwriter and producer. His international breakthrough was the war film Das Boot (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He subsequently directed the blockbuster fantasy film The NeverEnding Story (1984), based on the 1979 novel of the same name. After moving to the United States in the mid-1980s, Petersen directed his first American production, the science-fiction film Enemy Mine (1985). He directed a variety of major studio productions through the mid-2000s, including In the Line of Fire (1993), Outbreak (1995), Air Force One (1997), The Perfect Storm (2000), Troy (2004) and Poseidon (2006). In addition to his Oscar nominations, Petersen won three Bambi Awards, a Bavarian Film Award and a German Film Award. He was also a founding member of the Deutsche Filmakademie. == Early life == Petersen was born on 14 March 1941 in the northern harbour city, just a few miles from the Netherlands, Emden, the son of a naval officer. From 1953 to 1960, Petersen attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg. He made his first films with an 8 mm camera while still at school.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Wolfgang Petersen timeline

  1. His international breakthrough was the war film Das Boot (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
  2. He subsequently directed the blockbuster fantasy film The NeverEnding Story (1984), based on the 1979 novel of the same name.
  3. After moving to the United States in the mid-1980s, Petersen directed his first American production, the science-fiction film Enemy Mine (1985).

The world when Wolfgang Petersen was born

Wolfgang Petersen was born in 1941. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1941

  • #1 song"Chattanooga Choo Choo" – Glenn Miller
  • Top movieCitizen Kane
  • Best-selling bookThe Keys of the Kingdom – A.J. Cronin

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak
  • Top headlineJapan bombs Pearl Harbor — United States enters World War II
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial television broadcasts (CBS, NBC)
  • Defining fadVictory gardens
  • Notable inventionAerosol spray can
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population133.4M

1941 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Wolfgang Petersen's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19412026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,500$435,000
Average income$3,400$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population133.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.