Zalman King, the filmmaker behind a string of popular and steamy erotic thrillers in the ’80s and ’90s, died on Friday at age 70, according to the Associated Press, citing his son-in-law. The cause was cancer. Born Zalman King Lefkowitz, King began his career acting on TV in the ’60s. But his real breakthrough came when he and his wife, Patricia Louisianna Knop, wrote the screenplay for 1986’s 9 1/2 Weeks. Slickly directed by Adrian Lyne and produced by King, the kinky, soft-lit, taboo love story starred Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke and was a hit at the box-office, spawning a slew of racy imitators.