The cinephile and prolific Israeli filmmaker who led Cannon Films with his cousin and produced a Death Wish sequel and The Delta Force has died. He was 85.

Golan was born to parents of Polish descent and joined the Israeli Air Force in his youth.

He studied film in London and New York and went to work for Roger Corman on The Young Racers. Golan directed his first feature shortly after that in 1963.

He and Golbus founded Noah Films, which made Israeli foreign-language Oscar nominee I Love You Rosa among other acclaimed titles. Golan himself directed an Israeli foreign-language nominee in the form of the 1977 thriller Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan).

He and his cousin Yorum Globus acquired Cannon Films in the late 1970s and ran it for 10 years, making such films as the Death Wish sequels, The Delta Force and Kickboxer, itself now the subject of a remake.

Golan and Globus were featured in Hilla Medalia’s recent Cannes documentary The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story Of Cannon Films.

The company will be under the spotlight again in September when Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story Of Cannon Films plays in Midnight Madness at Toronto. It just premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival.