PRAGUE: Oscar-winning Czech-born film director Milos Forman, known for “One Flew Over the Cu­­ckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” has died aged 86, his agents said on Saturday.

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

“I can confirm the news,” added the director’s Czech agent Radka Kadlecova, as Forman’s official Facebook page displayed a black square in the place of his profile picture, complete with the dates of birth and death.

The Czech news agency CTK quoted Martina 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 the cigar-smoking director a “genius of cinematography.” “Milos Forman has left us. Genius of cinematography and master in the portrayal of the human condition. RIP,” the “Desperado” star said.

Born in the town of Caslav east of Prague on February 18, 1932, Forman lost both parents in Nazi concentration camps.

In the 1960s, he joined the New Wave of filmmakers standing up to the Communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia, making himself famous with “Black Peter,” “Loves of a Blonde” and “The Firemen’s Ball.” Shortly before the 1968 Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia, which put an end to a liberal period known as the Prague Spring, Forman moved to the United States via France.

His career overseas started with “Taking Off” in 1971, followed by “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” four years later, which brought him his first ‘best director’ Oscar.

An American citizen since 1977, the father-of-four returned to still-Communist Prague in 1983 to film “Amadeus,” which earned him a second Oscar for best director and won eight out of 11 nominations.

“Milos Forman was... a master filmmaker — no one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behavior,” tweeted For­man’s screenwriter Larry Karaszewski.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2018