Roy Boulting, director of the classic Fifties movie Brighton Rock, has died aged 87.

The colourful character, who was married five times and said he lost count of the children he fathered, grew up in Hove.

He was prompted to bring Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock to the screen after becoming aware of the seamier side of the resort while he was a child.

Together with his twin brother John, the duo made some of the best-known films in British cinema and began their film career with gloomy pieces about moral and social problems.

They later moved on to satirical comedies such as Private's Progress and I'm All Right, Jack.

In an interview in The Argus in 1999, Roy said that at a young age, the brothers were steered clear of venturing over the Brighton-Hove border for fear of being tainted by the former's charms.

He said: "Nanny used to take us for walks every day, but she would only go as far as the Hove side of the West Pier before stopping and turning back.

"Brighton was 'Sin City', so we were allowed to go no farther."

Roy was once married to actress Hayley Mills, with whom he began a relationship during the filming of The Family Way in the late Sixties.

Their son Crispian became lead singer of the pop group Kula Shaker.

Boulting was not so successful in later life and after his fifth marriage broke up and his finances became strained he was forced to move to a one-bedroom council flat in Oxfordshire.

He died in hospital after a long illness.