ACTOR and film director Richard Attenborough has died aged 90, the BBC reported last night.
He died at lunchtime yesterday, his son told the corporation.
Lord Attenborough enjoyed success as one of Britain's leading actors, before becoming a successful director.
His career highlights included directing 1982 film Gandhi and appearing in 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park. British prime minister David Cameron paid tribute to Lord Attenborough in a statement which read: "His acting in Brighton Rock was brilliant, his directing of Gandhi was stunning - Richard Attenborough was one of the greats of cinema."
Born in Cambridge in 1923, he championed the British film business through its triumphs and trials for more than 60 years as actor, Oscar-winning director and prolific movie-maker.
As an actor he was respected enough for top directors Satyajit Ray and Steven Spielberg to lure him out of self-imposed retirement to appear respectively in
The Chess Players and Jurassic Park.
Tragedy struck on Boxing Day 2004 when his elder daughter Jane Holland, and her daughter, Lucy, and her mother-in-law, also named Jane, were killed in the south-Asian tsunami.
He married the actress Sheila Sim when he was 21.
He was the older brother of TV wildlife presenter Sir David Attenborough.