LOS ANGELES, Jan 31: Legendary author Sidney Sheldon died on Tuesday from pneumonia, his publicist said, after a prolific career that saw him pen Oscar-winning screenplays and sell over 300 million books. He was 89.

The world-famous novelist died at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, southern California, his publicist of 25 years Warren Cowan said.

“Sidney passed away this afternoon,” Cowan said. “He was a beautiful man and a beautiful friend.” Cowan said Sheldon’s wife Alexandra and daughter Mary Sheldon were by the author’s side. “He was in every sense a first-class human being,” Cowan said.

“I was his friend and his publicist for over 25 years.

“I never heard anyone speak ill of him. I would travel all over the world and hear only good things about Sidney. He was a wonderful, wonderful man.” Born in 1917 to a German Jewish father and a Russian Jewish mother, Sheldon’s writing career began in Hollywood at the age of 20 where he worked on scripts and movies, earning 17 dollars a week.

It was the start of one of the most successful literary careers of the 20th century that would see him become the most translated writer in the world, his works available in 51 languages and sold in 108 countries.

Sheldon would also become the only writer to have won an Oscar, a Tony and an Edgar award, and was eventually the recipient of several prestigious honours which included a writing prize at France’s Deauville film festival.—AFP