Lord Richard Attenborough, the actor and film director, has died just days before his 91st birthday.

After forging a career as an actor in films including Brighton Rock and The Great Escape, he became an acclaimed film director, winning two Academy awards for Gandhi in 1983. The film went on to win eight in total.

He was the older brother of the nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Attenborough’s son said that his father died at lunchtime on Sunday.

In 2013 he was moved into a care home in west London, having suffered a stroke five years earlier that confined him to a wheelchair.

His family said last year that Attenborough never fully recovered from the stroke that left him in a coma for several days.

The director’s first film behind the camera came in 1969 with Oh! What A Lovely War.