Greek-cypriot film director Michael Cacoyannis, best known for the hit film Zorba the Greek, died in Athens on Monday aged 89, his cultural foundation said.

“Mr Cacoyannis died today in the early hours,” a foundation official said.

The director died at the central Evangelismos hospital where he was admitted 10 days ago, the Ana press agency reported.

Born in Cyprus on June 11, 1922, Mr Cacoyannis shot to fame with the triple-Oscar winning Zorba the Greek in 1964, an adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis–penned novel which starred Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates and Irene Pappas among others.

He was also feted for the film Electra, based on the Euripides tragedy, which received two awards at Cannes in 1962.

“Cacoyannis was the director who brought Greek cinema to a certain maturity.... He played a decisive role in the history of Greek cinema,” said Michel Demopoulos, a film critic and former director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

“He was one of the last greats of Greek cinema... and he had the privilege of working with prominent Greek and foreign actors,” he remarked.