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John G. Avildsen, Director of 'Rocky,' 'Karate Kid' Films, Dies at 81

John G. Avildsen, who won an Oscar for directing the original Rocky (1976), starring Sylvester Stallone, and also directed all three of the original Karate Kid films, has died in Los Angeles. Avildsen also won the DGA Award for directing Rocky, which also won Oscars for best picture and film editing and was nominated in multiple other categories. In 2006 Variety interviewed Avildsen, who said that a film with a boxing story didn’t excite him at first, but he was “moved by the urban character s