TEHRAN – Iranian director Yadollah Samadi, most famous for his epic TV series “Desire to Fly” on Iranian war hero Abbas Babai, died of heart failure at a Shiraz hospital on Tuesday. He was 66.

He was at the hospital waiting for a liver transplant, Persian news agencies announced on Tuesday.

Born in Maragheh, Samadi began his career in cinema as an assistant director in movies such as Hossein Zandbaf’s 1981 spy thriller “Hand of Satan” and Habib Kavosh’s 1983 thriller “Dadshah”.

Shortly after, he made his debut with “The Man Who Knew Too Much” about a man who misused the power of a fortuneteller to accumulate considerable wealth for himself.

His next movie, “The Bus”, about a clash between two groups in a western Iranian village, received great acclaim.

Also among his credits were the comedy drama “Apartment No. 13” starring Alireza Khamseh and “Two People and a Half”.

However, his fame rests on “Desire to Fly”, a TV series that he directed in 2010 about Abbas Babai, a fighter pilot who carried out numerous operations in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. He was killed in an operation on August 6, 1987.   

Photo: Director Yadollah Samadi in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW