Legendary Hollywood actor Rod Steiger died in Los Angeles last night at the age of 77.
The star - who was once married to British actress Claire Bloom - won a best actor Oscar for his 1967 role in movie classic, In the Heat of the Night.
His publicist, Lori De Waal, said Steiger died in a Los Angeles hospital of pneumonia and kidney failure.
During his long career in television and the movies, the star played a wide range of roles.
He liked the challenge of playing real-life people, taking on the roles of Mussolini, Rasputin, Pope John XXIII, Rudolph Hess, Pontius Pilate, Napoleon, WC Fields and Al Capone.
"My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that's what an actor is supposed to do," he once explained.
Steiger received his first film roles in the early 1950s and his first major performance was in Teresa (1951).
His breakthrough performance came in 1954, with On the Waterfront, where he starred opposite Marlon Brando.
Since then, he played everything from a popular leading man to a little known character actor.
Steiger played the title character in Al Capone in 1959 and also starred in the D-Day biopic The Longest Day.
His other films included The Pawnbroker, for which he received an Oscar nomination, Doctor Zhivago and No Way to Treat a Lady (1969).
Steiger's television shows included Columbo and mini-series Tales of the City, and Hollywood Wives.
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