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Canadian film legend Paul Almond, creator of the Seven Up! British documentary series and author of the Alford novels, has died in Malibu, Calif., at age 83.

He died of heart disease Thursday, about 10 days after being admitted to hospital.

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“After a graceful, thoughtful and tenacious fight, Paul made his transition, surrounded by his family,” his son Matthew Almond said.

News of his death spread quickly in the Gaspé region, where Almond had deep roots and lived part of the year in an ancestral home in Shigawake.

The director of more than 130 television dramas for the CBC, Grenada, BBC and U.S. networks, Almond was a pioneer of Canadian cinema who wrote, produced and directed the trilogy Isabel (1968), The Act of the Heart (1970) and Journey (1972), starring his then-wife, actress Geneviève Bujold.

“Improbable, extravagant, energetic, effervescent, Paul Almond changed this land — and thus, all of us — for the better,” said Peter Pearson, filmmaker and former executive director of Telefilm Canada. “Here was this kid from the Gaspé directing Burgess Meredith, Bill Shatner, Jimmie Doohan, Avengers’ Pat Macnee, Lorne Greene and Michael Learned, Rosemary Harris, Zoe Caldwell, Kate Reid, Macbeth with Sean Connery as the king.”