British director Michael Winner, who made the blockbuster Death Wish series, has died at his home in Kensington, London, his wife Geraldine announced. He was 77.
The director, who made more than 30 films, had been ill for some time and and was being nursed by his wife.
Geraldine, a former dancer whom he married two years ago, issued a statement that paid tribute to her husband.
She said: "Michael was a wonderful man, brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life."
Last yearm the film director, who said that liver specialists have told him he has 18 months to live, admitted he had researched services at the assisted-dying institution, where more than 150 Britons have travelled to end their lives.
THe bon vivant disclosed his research into assisted suicide in a press interview without apparently before telling his wife.
He was a prolific user of Twitter, the micro-blogging site, where more than 38,500 people followed his updates.
He posted almost 23,000 messages under the biography: "I am a totally insane film director, writer, producer, silk shirt cleaner, bad tempered, totally ridiculous example of humanity in deep s***."
His last tweet, posted in November, read: "The Whooshy Monster & me have become good friends, in fact I think he's starting a relationship with me. Is it real?"
