Screenwriter Norman Hudis, best known for writing the first six Carry On films, has died at the age of 93.
After several weeks in hospice care, he died surrounded by his family in California on Monday evening.
His widow Rita Hudis said in a statement: "He died peacefully at home with myself and Stephen and Kevin, his two sons.
"He did well to reach 93. We will miss him. Our 60th anniversary would have been on the 28th April."
London-born Hudis began his career as a journalist, but soon turned his talents towards the screen and stage.
Carry On Sergeant was his break-out film in 1958. Following its success, he went on to write five more Carry On films before moving to the US.
His second film, Carry On Nurse, was the UK's top grossing film of 1959 and was based on tales from his wife Rita, who was a nurse herself and went on to become one of the medical consultants on the US medical show M*A*S*H.
His American television writing credits include The Wild Wild West, The F.B.I., The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Hawaii Five-O.
For the stage, he wrote the long-running play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners.
Morris Bright, chairman of Elstree Studios and a close family friend of 25 years, said: "Without him we wouldn't have had the Carry On films, because he wrote the first six - and look what that spawned over the years.
"We owe the man a lot. He leaves a great legacy of joy, entertainment and laughter - something we can look back on and say, 'We're very grateful for him'.
"He was a great guy, I shall miss him a great deal."
In 2008, Hudis published an autobiography titled No Laughing Matter: How I Carried On.
He is survived by his widow, two sons, and two grandchildren, Veronica and Cameron.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here