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London (AP) — "Death Wish" director Michael Winner, a British filmmaker, restaurant critic and bon vivant, died Monday. He was 77. Winner's wife, Geraldine, said he died at his London home after an illness. Winner's 30 movies included three "Death Wish" films starring the late Charles Bronson. Many of his features sit at the schlockier end of the spectrum, but he also worked with Hollywood icons including Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum and Faye Dunaway. One of his earliest films was the 1962 nudist feature "Some Like It Cool"; later, he specialized in thrillers and action movies, including "The Mechanic,"...

Flamboyant film director, best known for Death Wish, and later an outspoken restaurant critic and bon vivant

Michael Winner, who has died aged 77, supplied interviewers with a list of more than 30 films he had directed, not always including the early travelogue This Is Belgium (1956), mostly shot in East Grinstead. But his enduring work was himself – a bravura creation of movies, television, journalism, the law courts and a catchphrase, ''Calm down, dear", from an exasperating series of television commercials.

He was born in London, the only child of George and Helen Winner, who were of Russian and Polish extraction respectively. His builder father made enough money propping up blitzed houses to invest in London property. The profits funded his wife's gambling, which, her son complained, so distracted "Mumsie" that he was never paid due attention. She left him in the bedroom with the mink coats of guests who came to his...

Andrew Pulver looks back through some of the key films of director Michael Winner, who has died aged 77

Play It Cool (1962)

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After a string of short films, Winner broke into features in the early 60s, with low budget thrillers and trendy pop musicals. Quite a few of them had "cool" in the title – including the nudie pic Some Like It Cool. The Billy Fury pic Play It Cool was considerably more commercially viable, no doubt inspired by the success of Cliff Richard's Young Ones film. Fury – in a real stretch – plays an up-and coming rocker called Billy Universe; Anna Palk the heiress who he might or might not get together with, and Dennis Price (!) as her overbearing dad.

The Cool Mikado (1962)

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Frankie Howerd led the line for Winner's followup, produced by Howard Baim,...

Michael Winner, the British director of films including 1974's Death Wish, died Monday at his home in London following an illness, The Associated Press reports. He was 77. The AP confirmed the news with Winner's wife, Geraldine Winner, an ex-dancer who married him two years ago. She called Winner "a wonderful man -- brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life." Winner helmed 30 films including the revenge-themed action picture Death Wish and its two sequels starring Charles Bronson. Some of his other films include Some Like It Cool (1962), which he also wrote; The

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London — "Death Wish" director Michael Winner, a British filmmaker, restaurant critic and bon vivant, has died at the age of 77.

Winner's wife Geraldine said he died Monday at his London home after an illness.

Winner's 30 movies included three "Death Wish" films starring the late Charles Bronson.

Born in London in 1935, Winner worked with Hollywood icons including Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum and Faye Dunaway – although many of his films sit at the schlockier end of the spectrum.

One of his earliest films was the 1962 nudist feature "Some Like It Cool"; later he specialized in thrillers and action movies, including "The Mechanic," "Scorpio" and the violent vigilante "Death Wish" series.

Winner never took criticism of his films too seriously.

"If you want art, don't mess about with movies," he once said. "Buy a Picasso."

He had a second career as restaurant critic with the "Winners Dinners" column in the Sunday Times newspaper.