Fifty Shades and Madonna music video director dies aged 71

James Foley, the film director behind two of the Fifty Shades of Grey films, has died aged 71.

Foley also directed three Madonna music videos in the 1980s – Papa Don’t Preach, Live to Tell and True Blue.

A spokesman for the director said he died “peacefully in his sleep earlier this week” at his home in Los Angeles following a “years-long struggle” with brain cancer.

Foley also directed 12 episodes of House of Cards, the Kevin Spacey-starring thriller which was one of Netflix’s earliest original hits.

Although his representative noted Foley’s diagnosis of brain cancer, his official cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

The US director’s debut film, Reckless, was released in 1984 and starred Daryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn.

His other film credits include Glengarry Glen Ross, Fear, Confidence, Perfect Stranger and The Corruptor.

Foley did not direct Fifty Shades of Grey, but did join the franchise to direct both its sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, after the departure of Sam Taylor-Johnson following the first film.

The film series, based on the best-selling books by EL James, was a huge box office success and made film stars out of its lead actors Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.

When directing the three music videos for Madonna in 1986, Foley used the pseudonym Peter Percher.

However, he returned to using his own name when he worked with Madonna again the following year on the film Who’s That Girl, which saw the singer play a woman falsely accused of murdering her boyfriend.

Foley also directed episodes of hit TV series such as Twin Peaks, Billions and Hannibal.