Michael Winner, who directed such films as “Death Wish” and “The Mechanic”, has died after a long illness. He was 77 years old.

Winner was also a famed restaurant critic who wrote for the Sunday Times in his column “Winner’s Dinners”. But it was his approach to making films that won over fans, as he made action movies the way he wanted to do them rather than according to what his critics had to say. “Death Wish” was often mentioned in conjunction with his name, so iconic was the movie that had a helping hand in making Charles Bronson a huge action star.

“When I die, it’s going to be ‘Death Wish director dies’,” he said. “I don’t mind though – Death Wish was an epoch-making film. The first film in the history of cinema where the hero kills other civilians. It had never been done before. Since then it has been the most copied film ever. Tarantino put it in his top 10 films ever made.”

Winner once addressed the critics of his films, deeming it silly to get so caught up in a movie that wasn’t made to be anything other than what it was.

“If you want art, don’t mess about with movies,” he said. “Buy a Picasso.”