Composer Maurice of Arabia dies aged 84

Composer Maurice Jarre, who won three Oscars for his film scores, has died of cancer in Los Angeles aged 84.

Jarre was born in France and moved to the US in the Sixties. He found fame in his late thirties in 1962 when he wrote the score for the David Lean-directed Lawrence Of Arabia, for which he was awarded an Oscar.

He won two more Academy Awards for two other Lean films, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage To India.

He also wrote scores for such greats as Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston and Luchino Visconti, clocking up more than 150 credits. He married four times and is the father of electronic-music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre.

Jarre received a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin International Film Festival last month and festival director Dieter Kosslick said: "Film composers often are in the shadows of great directors. It's different with Maurice Jarre."