Walter Mirisch, who has died aged 101, was one of the few film producers of the post-Hollywood studio era who had the intuition and the know-how of the old moguls of the 1930s and 40s, combined with the daring and confidence to entrust the movies to the artists themselves.
This resulted in a string of films that gained the approbation of mass audiences and critics alike in the decade following the foundation of the Mirisch Corporation (also known variously as Mirisch Production Company and Mirisch Films), the company set up in 1957 by Walter, his brother Marvin and his half-brother Harold.
