'Pink Panther' director Blake Edwards dies

Oscar-winning director Blake Edwards, who made the "Pink Panther" movies and the romantic comedy blockbuster "10," has died aged 88, his agent said Thursday.

Edwards worked with some cinema legends such as Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in a career stretching more than half a century.

But he is probably most well known for the "Pink Panther" series starting in 1963, in which bumbling Inspector Clouseau played by British actor Peter Sellers hunts David Niven's aristocratic jewel thief Sir Charles Lytton.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Edwards - who was married to actress Julie Andrews - an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar in 2004.

His agent Lou Pitt confirmed to AFP a report in industry daily Variety that he had died.