Bryan Forbes, one of the most creative forces in the movie world for years, has died aged 86. The director, actor and writer was considered one of Hollywood's finest in the 1960s and he helmed the original version of The Stepford Wives (1974) before turning to a life of writing books, both fiction and memoirs.

As The Guardian point it, the turning point in Forbes career came when he formed the independent company Beaver Films with the great Richard Attenborough in 1958. Forbes received an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA award for the company's first project, The Angry Silence (1960). Attenborough played a factory worker persecuted for not joining a strike. 

Forbes went on to write The League of Gentleman (1960) and directed Whistle Down The Wind (1961) about children who mistake an escape convict for Jesus. For 'The Stepford Wives,' Forbes directed a screenplay by William Goldman about Joanna Eberhart, a woman who moves to the quaint town Stepford, Connecticut with her family before discovering that a sinister truth that lies behind the perfect behavior of the female residents. The movie was remade in 2004 by Frank Oz, starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick and Bette Midler.

After returning to his first love of books and writing, Forbes penned The Rewrite Man (1983) and the comedy Partly Cloudy (1995) as well as two volumes of autobiography Notes For A Life (1974) and A Divided Life (1992). He received a CBE in 2004.

Bryan Forbes is survived by wife Nanette and their daughters Emma and Sarah.

Bryan ForbesBryan Forbes At Work

Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes Has Passed Away Aged 86