The actor who played the lead role in the classic war movie The Dam Busters has died.
90-year-old Richard Todd starred in many British films but was best known for his role as Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
Todd was one of the first British officers to land in Normandy in advance of the main D-Day landings and then went on to become Britain's highest-earning post-war matinee idol.
A spokesman for his family says he died peacefully in his sleep Thursday at his home near Grantham in Lincolnshire.
The handsome, blue-eyed Todd enjoyed the unusual distinction of appearing in films about D-Day in which the role of his wartime self was played by other actors.
As an officer in the Parachute Battalion, he had not only been one of the first to land in Normandy, he had also been among the first to meet the glider force under the command of Major John Howard defending Pegasus Bridge.
That scene was memorably recreated in two epic films in which Todd later starred D-Day, the Sixth of June and The Longest Day.
