George Sluizer, director of River Phoenix's last film, dead at 82

Dutch director George Sluizer, best known for making the last movie featuring Hollywood actor River Phoenix, has died in Amsterdam after a long illness, according to Dutch media. He was 82.

"Sluizer had been ill for a long time. In 2007 he barely survived a ruptured artery and after that his health remained fragile," Dutch public broadcaster the NOS said, quoting relatives.

Born in Paris in 1932, Sluizer's first Hollywood breakthrough came in 1993 with the release of the movie The Vanishing, featuring Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland.

He will however be best remembered as the director of the 1993 movie Dark Blood featuring rising star River Phoenix, 23, who died of drug-induced heart failure at the time the movie was filmed.

Sluizer continued working on Dark Blood after his health started failing in 2007 and the movie eventually premiered in the central Dutch city of Utrecht in 2012.

He continued working on several other films and documentary projects until his death on Saturday, the NOS said.