Filmmaker Blake Edwards dead at 88

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. filmmaker Blake Edwards died Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., his family said. He was 88.

Variety.com first reported his death, noting actress Julie Andrews, his wife of 41 years, and four children were at his side.

Edwards' publicist, Gene Schwam, said the cause of death was complications of pneumonia, The New York Times reported.

Among Edwards' film writing and directing credits are the "Pink Panther" series, "Operation Petticoat," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Days of Wine and Roses," "10," "The Party," "Victor-Victoria," "Micki & Maude," "The Man Who Loved Women," "Skin Deep," "Switch" and "Sunset."

Andrews has appeared in several of his pictures, including "S.O.B.," in which Edwards had her bare her breasts in a scene involving Hollywood's movie-making hypocrisy.

"There is a great deal of hypocrisy about public reaction to sex comedies," Edwards said in an interview in 1988. "They will laugh in theaters and later profess to have been shocked or disgusted."