Fons Rademakers was born on 5 September 1920 in Roosendaal, Netherlands. he began his career as an actor and theater director. His film directorial debut, Village by the River (1958), was also the first Dutch movie ever nominated for an Academy award (Oscar). In 1986 Rademakers won the Foreign Language Oscar for The Assault (1986), after a novel by Harry Mulisch. Rademakers' film version of Stijn Streuvels novel "De Teloorgang van de Waterhoek", Mira (1971), caused a shock in conservative circles in Flanders, especially Dutch actress Willeke van Ammelrooy's performance as "Mira". In 1976 Rademakers directed the ultimate Multatuli-classic Max Havelaar (1976). Rademakers' forte were Dutch-language literary masterpieces, such as The Dark Room of Damocles (1963), after Hermans' "De donkere kamer van Damocles" and the less acclaimed Mijn vriend (1979) (linked to the then notorious Jespers trial). The English-language drama The Rose Garden (1989) was his last movie.

He also produced his films, as well as those of his spouse Lili Rademakers'. On February 22, 2007, he died, aged 86, in a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, near his French domicile Thoiry, from pulmonary emphysema.