Veteran film and television director Richard Donner, who was considered a master of macho blockbusters, died on Monday at the age of 91, according to US media reports.

Donner garnered international fame when he helmed the “Superman” film starring Christopher Reeve, the four “Lethal Weapon” films and “The Goonies” for the big screen.  

Born in the Bronx, New York Donner, who started out as an actor, began his directorial journey in television by calling the shots at projects like “The Twilight Zone”, “Wanted: Dead or Alive”, and “The Man From UNCLE”. 

He convinced Steve McQueen that he was up to the task of directing a 1960 episode of the CBS Western “Wanted: Dead or Alive”.

His career in blockbuster feature films kickstarted when he got hold of an early script for “The Omen” (1976), a $2 million film featuring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick that grossed $60 million in the US and spawned two sequels.

Soon enough Donner went on to direct 1978’s “Superman”, as well as “The Goonies” in 1985 and the Michelle Pfeiffer cult hit “Ladyhawke”.

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Although Superman turned out to be a huge hit (grossing $300 million worldwide) and Donner had already shot about 75% of the sequel, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind fired him by telegram and replaced him with Richard Lester.

But after directing the first “Lethal Weapon” in 1987, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, that blew him up as the prolific Hollywood director as we know. 

In 1985, he also directed “The Goonies”, the teen adventure based on a story by Steven Spielberg.

After his death, Donner is survived by his wife, film producer Lauren Shuler Donner. The couple together founded ‘The Donners’ Company’, producing the massive “X-Men” film in 2000, and later the prequel “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”.