Romanian director, actor and politician Sergiu Nicolaescu died Thursday at the age of 82, the Mediafax news agency reported.
Nicolaescu succumbed to heart complications following abdominal surgery. He was admitted to a Bucharest hospital last week.
He made around 50 films, many of them regarded as propaganda for the harsh Communist regime, which fell in 1989. He continued to direct in the post-Communist era.
His most famous works were historical epics with opulent costumes.