Norman Jewison: Renowned Canadian film director dies at 97

Famed Canadian film maker and producer Norman Jewison has died aged 97, his publicist has announced.

The three-time Oscar nominee for best director passed away peacefully at his home on Saturday, Jeff Sanderson said. He provided no further details.

Jewison directed classics such as Moonstruck, In The Heat Of The Night, and Fiddler on the Roof.

A versatile storyteller, he was renowned for tackling issues such as racism and civil rights in his films.

Jewison's films received 46 Academy Award nominations and won 12 Oscars.

In 1999, he received a lifetime achievement award from America's Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Four years later, he was given a similar award in Canada for his contributions to the country's film industry, which included the setting up of the Canadian Film Centre.

"I have tended to show humanity as fallible, sensitive, befuddled, misled but redeemable, rather than mindless, relentlessly violent," he wrote in his autobiography in 2004.

"I want people to recognise themselves in the movies I make. I don't enjoy no-brainer action movies."

During his illustrious career, the Toronto-born film director worked with some of Hollywood's biggest stars including Denzel Washington and Sidney Poitier.