Amadeus director dies

OSCAR-WINNING Czechborn film director Milos Forman, known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, has died aged 86.

His friend and agent Dennis Aspland revealed Forman passed away suddenly after a short illness.

“I heard from (his wife) Martina Forman very early this morning letting me know Milos passed away at Danbury Hospital near his home in Warren, Connecticut,” Mr Aspland said.

The Czech news agency CTK quoted Mrs Forman as saying her husband died suddenly on Friday after a short illness.

“He passed away quietly, surrounded by his family and his closest people,” she said. In an obituary on Twitter, Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas labelled Forman a “genius of cinematography”.

Forman’s other films include Hair (1979), Ragtime (1981), Valmont (1989) and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996).