British actor and film director Lionel Jeffries dies (Roundup)

Feb 19, 2010, 17:29 GMT

London - British actor, screenwriter and film director Lionel Jeffries, best known for his celebrated film version of the Railway Children and his role in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, has died at the age of 83, his agents said Friday.

Jeffries appeared in over 70 films, including The Colditz Story, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Trials of Oscar Wilde and Camelot. He directed and scripted The Railway Children and made four more films, including The Amazing Mr Blunden, Wombling Free and The Water Babies.

His charming colour version of The Railway Children established Jeffries' reputation as a talented director of children's films. But it is for his screen performances that he will be best remembered, above all his role as Papa Potts in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Renowned for his bald head, baritone voice and bristling moustache, the London-born actor made his screen debut in 1950. He turned to television only in the mid-1980s appearing in the popular TV thriller series Inspector Morse.

A spokeswoman for his agent, the Liz Hobbs Group, said Jeffries had died Friday after a long illness.