One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest director Milos Forman dies aged 86

Film-maker became key figure of the Czech new wave before emigrating to the US and establishing a successful career in Hollywood

Miloš Forman, the Czech-born director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, has died at the age of 86. Czech news agency CTK reported that Forman died on Friday in the United States after a short illness. His wife, Martina, told CTK: “His departure was calm and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends.”

Forman was born in the Czech town of Caslav in 1932; after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, his mother died in concentration camps. After being raised by relatives, Forman joined the Prague Film Academy, and began writing scripts in the late 1950s, gradually moving up the ranks in the postwar Czechoslovak industry. His debut as director, Black Peter, about a teenager in his first job, incurred the dislike of the Communist authorities for its irreverent attitude, but after its prizewinning appearance at the Locarno film festival enabled Forman to continue directing.

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