George A Romero, director of horror classic Night of the Living Dead, has died. He was 77. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Romero's producing partner Peter Grunwald said the director died in his sleep after a "brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer".

Night of the Living Dead, a zombie film which combined horror and social satire, which Romero co-wrote with John Russo, was released in 1968 and became a cult classic. It spawned a series: Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead. The last was released in 2009.