James Foley, Renowned Director of ‘Fifty Shades’ Sequels and ‘House of Cards,’ Passes Away at 71

James Foley, who directed the two
Fifty Shades of Grey
sequels and various other movies including
Glengarry Glen Ross
and
At Close Range
, along with Netflix’s
House of Cards
And after appearing in several Madonna movies and music videos, he passed away. He was 71 years old.

His family told Efwebethrough a rep that Foley died earlier this week after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

Foley was born on December 28, 1953, in Brooklyn, and he made his directorial début with
Reckless,
the 1984 romantic dramedy starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah and penned by first-time feature scribe Chris Columbus. Foley’s next movie was
At Close Range
, the 1986 crime thriller toplined by Sean Penn and Christopher Walken, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for its Golden Bear prize.

The movie film featured “Live to Tell,” a chart-topping single by Penn’s then-wife Madonna, with whom Foley had worked on the “Dress You Up” video and concert film
Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour.
He directed and produced the “Live to Tell” video and later would helm clips for her smash songs “Papa Don’t Preach” and “True Blue.” Foley also directed the star in
Who’s That Girl?
and directed the music video for the title track, which was also a No. 1 single.

Foley directed a 1991 episode of David Lynch’s quirky Showtime series
Twin Peaks
Before directing the big-screen version of David Mamet’s high-pressure salesmen drama
Glengarry Glen Ross
The subsequent year, the film boasted a stellar ensemble featuring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, andJonathan Pryce.

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Foley went on to direct feature films throughout the 2010s, including
After Dark, My Sweet
(1990) — which was his only screenwriting credit for a feature film —
Two Bits
(1995),
Fear
and John Grisham adaptation
The Chamber
(both 1996),
Confidence
(2003),
Perfect Stranger
(2007) and
Red Zone
(2014).

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His most significant commercial achievements were realized when
Fifty Shades Darker
(2017) and
Fifty Shades Freed
(2018), the follow-ups to the worldwide success
Fifty Shades of Grey,
Inspired by the best-selling book series by E. L. James, Foley’s follow-up installments accumulated a global revenue of $714 million at the box office. However, none of these sequels achieved the same level of success as the 2015 original film did.

Along the way, Foley also directed for television, helming episodes of
Billions
,
Hannibal
and
Wayward Pines.
He also helmed a dozen episodes of Netflix’s breakout drama series
House of Cards,
starring Spacey and Robin Wright over its first three seasons.

He is survived by brother Kevin Foley, sisters Eileen and Jo Ann Foley and nephew Quinn Foley and their respective spouses. He was predeceased by another brother, Gerard Foley.