A Night to Remember director Roy Ward Baker dies

Baker cut his teeth at Gainsborough Studios before heading to Hollywood

British director Roy Ward Baker, whose 1958 film A Night to Remember memorably recreated the sinking of the Titanic, has died in London at the age of 93.

Born in 1916, he began as a teaboy at Gainsborough Studios before going on to work as an assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.

After World War II he went to Hollywood where he directed Marilyn Monroe in the 1952 thriller Don't Bother to Knock.

Back in the UK he made several Hammer horrors and episodes of The Saint.

The Avengers, The Persuaders and Jason King were among other classic TV shows on which he worked.

According to his son Nicholas, Baker died peacefully in his sleep at a London hospital on Tuesday.

Having retired in 1992, his most recent appearance was as an interviewee on the BBC Two documentary series British Film Forever in 2007.

Kenneth More and Honor Blackman were among the cast of A Night to Remember

Quatermass and the Pit, Scars of Dracula and The Vampire Lovers were among the titles he made for horror studio Hammer.

He also directed Bette Davis in 1968 movie The Anniversary and Hayley Mills in 1981 mini-series The Flame Trees of Thika.

But his defining work was A Night to Remember.

Prior to James Cameron's Oscar-winning Titanic, the film was considered the definitive big-screen depiction of the 1912 disaster.