Oscar-winning film producer Jeremy Thomas dies aged 77

Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas, whose films included The Last Emperor and Sexy Beast, has died aged 77. The British filmmaker passed away peacefully surrounded by family and loved ones at his home in Oxfordshire on Friday, his publicist said in a statement. Thomas built an international reputation over a career spanning five decades, working with directors including David Cronenberg, Nagisa Oshima, Julien Temple and Nicolas Roeg and backing independent films alongside mainstream successes. He best known work, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, won nine Academy Awards, including best picture, and earned Thomas an Oscar as producer in 1988. Thomas repeatedly collaborated with Bertolucci, also producing The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.