Director John Schlesinger suffers stroke

John Schlesinger directed Madonna and Rupert Everett

British director John Schlesinger has suffered a stroke at his home in California.

The Oscar-winning director of Midnight Cowboy and Marathon Man is recovering at a hospital in Palm Springs.

The 74-year-old, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery last year, is in "full recovery mode", said a spokesman for the filmmaker.

He has worked in movies, television, theatre and opera and his most recent film was the comedy The Next Best Thing, starring Madonna and Rupert Everett.

Intensive care

Mr Schlesinger is in the intensive care unit at Eisenhower hospital where he will undergo speech therapy, according to the Los Angeles Times.

He has made more than 20 films and in 1969 he was awarded the Best Picture Oscar for Midnight Cowboy.

He was born in London in 1926 and grew up in Hampstead, the eldest of five children.

He studied English Literature at Balliol College, Oxford, where he acted with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, before becoming a professional actor.

He turned to film making with the BBC, producing current affairs programmes such as Tonight and arts programme, Monitor.

The first film he made for the cinema was Terminus, a documentary for British Transport Films.

The film followed 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station, and won numerous awards, including the Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival and a Bafta.