Actor, Paul Scofield dies aged 86.

Actor, Paul Scofield has died at the age of 86.

His agent said that Scofield, who had leukaemia, died peacefully on Wednesday, 19 March 2008, in a hospital near his Sussex home.

He was an acclaimed Shakespearean actor. In 2004, Scofield's portrayal of King Lear in 1962 was voted the greatest performance in a Shakespeare play by a panel of Royal Shakespeare Company actors.

His last major London stage role was in "John Gabriel Borkman"at the Lyttelton, NT in 1996.

In movies, he won an Oscar in 1967 for playing Sir Thomas More in the film of the life of the 16th Century Lord Chancellor.

"He was a great friend and a great man," actress Dame Judi Dench said.

More about Paul Scofield from the BBC.