WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Gene Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who was the producer of three films by director Roman Polanski in the 1960s and reunited with him decades later for the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama “The Pianist,” has died. He was 90 years old.
Gutowski’s son, Adam Bardach, told The Associated Press that his father died of pneumonia on Tuesday at a hospital in Warsaw.
The Gutowski-Polanski collaboration in the 1960s resulted in the 1965 psychological horror film “Repulsion,” starring French actress Catherine Deneuve, followed by “Cul-de-Sac” (1966) and “The Fearless Vampire Killer” (1967), films that brought Polanski to Hollywood.
Years later Polanski credited Gutowski with launching his international career, calling him “one of the most important figures in my existence.”