Although he directed over 30 movies he was probably better known for his restaurant reviews in later years. Still he was quite a character and his battles with the BBFC over Death Wish (possibly his only good film) make for interesting stories. RIP.

I would imagine many would only know him from his car insurance ads.

had he been born a few years later hed of died a long long time ago

it said he was born in 1935 in london theres a good chance he may have been blown to blitz and pieces, make sense now?

of
preposition
1 expressing the relationship between a part and a whole: the sleeve of his coat | in the back of the car | the days of the week | a series of programs | a piece of cake | a lot of money.
2 expressing the relationship between a scale or measure and a value: an increase of 5 percent | a height of 10 feet.
• expressing an age: a boy of fifteen.
3 indicating an association between two entities, typically one of belonging: the son of a friend | the government of India | a photograph of the bride | [ with a possessive ] : a former colleague of John's.
• expressing the relationship between an author, artist, or composer and their works collectively: the plays of Shakespeare | the paintings of Rembrandt.
4 expressing the relationship between a direction and a point of reference: north of Chicago | on the left of the picture.
5 expressing the relationship between a general category and the thing being specified which belongs to such a category: the city of Prague | the idea of a just society | the set of all genes.
• governed by a noun expressing the fact that a category is vague: this type of book | the general kind of answer that would satisfy me.
6 indicating the relationship between a verb and an indirect object.
• with a verb expressing a mental state: they must be persuaded of the severity of the problem | I don't know of anything that would be suitable.
• expressing a cause: he died of cancer.
7 indicating the material or substance constituting something: the house was built of bricks | walls of stone.
8 expressing time in relation to the following hour: it would be just a quarter of three in New York.

english isint my native language

It was probably all that special sauce he was given in restaurants that kept him going

Really? What is then?

Mark

are you getting quite slow in your 40s? brattish, what else?

Oh dear lord, don't imagine a country of Great Bratain

I was never a fan of the Death Wish films, The Mechanic was good though.

The Big Sleep, with Robert Mitchum is another classic.