Iconic Director Passes Away After Battle With Brain Cancer

Famed Hollywood director James Foley has passed away after a battle with brain cancer. Many know James’ work but may not even realize it. In addition to directing films like Glengarry Glenn Ross and two films in the Fifty Shades franchise, James worked with Madonna several times for her iconic music videos. He directed videos for Papa Don’t Preach, Live to Tell, and True Blue in the 1980s. James also served as the director for Madonna’s 1987 feature film Who’s That Girl.

Videos by InspireMore

James Foley talked about his love for Hollywood in a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“What I love is that it’s fluid. I’ve had a very fluid career of ups and downs and lefts and rights, and I always just responded to what I was interested in at the moment, and I was very unconscious about genre,” he said. “So the thing I would say I least like is there is an understandable tendency to, of course, pigeonhole somebody or identify them as, ‘He does this kind of movie, so if we’re making that kind of movie, we should get him and he’ll make it like the other ones he’s made.’ That is of no interest to me, personally, to repeat myself. So I’ve always just followed my nose, for better or for worse, sometimes for worse.”

Fans shared tributes to James Foley on X.

Matthew Rettenmund wrote, “RIP James Foley, 71. Jamie directed several Madonna videos, most importantly ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ and ‘Live to Tell,’ as well as her feature ‘Who’s That Girl,’ and was best man at her 1985 wedding to Sean Penn. Here, some unseen photos from ‘Papa.'”

“Damn, RIP James Foley. A small but mostly excellent body of work, full of tough, moody genre fare. An underrated guy, we don’t have many of these artists anymore,” another wrote on X.

James Foley was 71.

This story’s featured image is by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images.