British director Michael Apted of 'Up' dies aged 79

LONDON: British director Michael Apted, best known for the generation-spanning TV documentary series "Up" and a 1990s James Bond film, died on Friday at the age of 79, an industry group said.

He directed many films, including 1980's "Coal Miner's Daughter", 1988's "Gorillas in the Mist" and the 1998 Bond film "The World is Not Enough".

But he was best known for "Up", a pioneering documentary series which followed the lives 14 Britons from different backgrounds, starting from when they were seven in 1964. The series checked in on the 14 every seven years until they turned 63 in 2019, the work spanning an astonishing 56 years.