Cinema `genius' dies at 73

The film director Jack Clayton, whose masterpieces include Room at the Top and The Great Gatsby, has died at 73.

Members of his family were with him at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire, when he died yesterday.

A fellow director, Michael Winner, said: "There is no question England has lost one of its great creative geniuses." He said Mr Clayton was suffering from heart and liver problems.

Mr Clayton will be best remembered for the 1958 film Room at the Top which won two Oscars. His most recent film was The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, in 1987.

Mr Winner said: "Jack was outside the normal director both as a talent and as a human being. He was an exception ... the most gentle, quiet, wonderful man. He was a meticulous craftsman with enormous heart and sensitivity."