German filmmaker Verhoeven, known for 'The White Rose,' dies

German filmmaker Michael Verhoeven, best-known internationally for directing the 1982 film "The White Rose" and the 1990 film "The Nasty Girl," has died, reported dpa. He was 85 years old.

Verhoeven died on Monday after a short, serious illness, according to his family, who confirmed his death to dpa on Friday.

"A world has been lost. It is unimaginably painful," said his son, director and screenwriter Simon Verhoeven.

Michael Verhoeven dealt intensively with Germany's Nazi past in his work. "The White Rose" portrays a real-life anti-Nazi resistance group in Munich that included the siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl.

His film "The Nasty Girl," which was nominated for an Oscar, follows the upheavals in a small West German town after a local woman's research project begins to uncover the shameful involvement of most of the town's leading families in the Nazi regime.

In Germany, he was also known for popular entertainment programmes such as the 1989 television series "Die schnelle Gerdi" ("Fast Gerdi") which starred his wife, the well-known German-Austrian actress Senta Berger, as a Munich cab driver.

In 2016, he co-produced the successful comedy "Welcome to Germany," which was directed by his son Simon. His younger son, Luca, is also active in the film industry.

Verhoeven was born on July 13, 1938, in Berlin, the son of actress Doris Kiesow and director and actor Paul Verhoeven. The family later moved to Munich.

He gained his first experience as an actor in small theatre plays, then in the 1950s in films such as "The Flying Classroom" and "The Crammer."

Verhoeven and Berger most recently lived in the Munich suburb of Grünwald.

He is due to be buried on Friday in a small private service.