James Foley, the Brooklyn-born filmmaker who collaborated¹ with A-list stars like Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Madonna and Mark Wahlberg across a 30-plus-year career² in film, TV and music videos, has died. He was 71.



Foley’s rep said Thursday he died “peacefully in his sleep earlier this week” at his Los Angeles home following a “years-long struggle³” with brain⁴ cancer.



Born on Dec. 28, 1953, and raised in New York, Foley graduated from high school and went on to study film at New York University and then at USC in Los Angeles. It was during his final year of film school that a chance meeting would change the course of his life and jump start his career behind the camera.