[Shaun]

The American film-maker, Blake Edwards, has died in southern California at the age of 88, his publicist has said.

Edwards died of complications from pneumonia at 1030 (1830 GMT) at St John's Health Centre in Santa Monica, Gene Schwam told the Associated Press.

His wife, the actress Julie Andrews, and other members of his family were at his side, Mr Schwam added.

Among the films Edwards directed were The Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Victor/Victoria and 10.

He never won an Academy Award for any of his films, but was given honorary Oscar in 2004 for his "extraordinary body of work".

Edwards had been receiving treatment in hospital for two weeks prior to his death, Mr Schwam said.

Edwards had knee problems and had been "pretty much confined to a wheelchair for the last year-and-a-half or two", he added.

At the time of his death, Edwards was working on two Broadway musicals - one based on the Pink Panther movies, and the other a comedy set during Prohibition entitled Big Rosemary.

"His heart was as big as his talent. He was an Academy Award winner in all respects," Mr Schwam told AP.

One of Hollywood's most successful specialists in comedy, Edwards was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1922 and started out as an actor.

After appearing in about 30 films, he worked as a TV scriptwriter before becoming a director. His first significant success came with the 1959 film, Operation Petticoat, starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis.
The Pink Panther and Blake Edwards (1999) At the time of his death, Edwards was working on a Broadway musical based on the Pink Panther

He then charmed audiences with his adaptation of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, which gave Audrey Hepburn one of her most memorable roles.

In 1963, Edwards created one of film comedy's classic characters. After Peter Ustinov dropped out before production, Edwards persuaded Peter Sellers to play the accident-prone Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther.

His last major success came in 1982 with Victor/Victoria, a musical comedy that saw Julie Andrews play a starving singer who pretends to be a homosexual Polish count masquerading as a female impersonator.

Andrews, now 75, and Edwards married in 1969. He is survived by her and his four children - two from his first marriage to Patricia Walker, and two whom he adopted with Andrews.

R.I.P.