Film director Michael Winner dies aged 77
Man behind Death Wish series of vigilante films became scathing and feared restaurant reviewer
British film director Michael Winner, who made the violent thriller Death Wish and became a restaurant critic in later life, has died at the age of 77, his wife said yesterday.
Winner had been ill for some time and after a spell in hospital last year died at his home in the upmarket west London district of Kensington, Geraldine Winner said.
"Michael was a wonderful man, brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life," said his wife, who married Winner two years ago but had known him for half a century.
Winner's film career spanned more than 50 years and he worked with major stars including Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum and Faye Dunaway.
But his biggest hit remained Death Wish, in which a liberal architect played by late actor Charles Bronson becomes a vigilante following the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. He also directed two sequels.
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."
In later years Winner reinvented himself as a restaurant critic for Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times newspaper. His weekly column "Winner's Dinners" invariably featured a photograph of Winner posing with restaurant staff or his famous friends in exotic locations, alongside his outspoken opinions on the food.