Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas dies aged 77

September 12, 2026 at 09:32 PM2 min

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Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning British producer of The Last Emperor and Sexy Beast, died peacefully at his Oxfordshire home on Friday at age 77. His publicist confirmed the death in a statement. Thomas's final film, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, is set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday.

Key Facts

Jeremy Thomas won an Oscar as producer for Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which received nine Academy Awards including best picture.
Thomas was made a CBE in the 2009 New Year Honours.
His final film, Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, directed by Takashi Miike, is scheduled to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday.
Thomas began his career in the cutting room and landed his first production role on the 1976 Australian film Mad Dog Morgan.

Career Highlights

Thomas built an international reputation over a career spanning five decades, working with directors including David Cronenberg, Nagisa Oshima, Julian Temple and Nicolas Roeg. His best-known work, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, won nine Academy Awards, including best picture, and earned Thomas an Oscar as producer. The 1987 biographical drama about the final monarch of China's Qing dynasty starred Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole and Vivian Wu. Thomas repeatedly collaborated with Bertolucci, also producing The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.

Collaborations and Recognition

Thomas worked with several British directors at the start of their careers, including Ben Wheatley, Jonathan Glazer, Stephen Frears and David Mackenzie. His other credits include Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, starring David Bowie, Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, Roeg's Bad Timing and Eureka, Fast Food Nation, the Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, and film adaptations of JG Ballard's Crash and High-Rise. In 2006 he received the European Film Academy's award for Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema. In 2009 he was made a CBE in the New Year Honours.