LONDON (January 21, 2013)—Michael Winner, the British filmmaker behind "Death Wish," restaurant critic and bon vivant, has died at the age of 77.

Winner's wife Geraldine says her husband died Monday at his home in London after an illness.

Winner's 30 movies included three "Death Wish" films starring the late Charles Bronson.

He had a second career as restaurant critic for the Sunday Times newspaper, where his highest praise was to declare a meal "historic."

His wife, a former dancer who married Winner two years ago, said he was "a wonderful man, brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life."