Tonino Cervi, the Italian director, screenwriter and producer of films by Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci, has died in Siena of a heart attack aged 72.

Cervi, who was born in Rome, produced one of Bertolucci's first features, 1962's Grim Reaper (La Commare Secca) and gained widespread recognition for films such as Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert (Deserto Rosso). In 1962, together with Carlo Ponti, Cervi also produced Boccaccio '70, a film in four segments directed by Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Mario Monicelli and Luchino Visconti.

The son of the late Gino Cervi, one of Italy's most famous actors, Cervi made his directing debut in 1968 with Oggi A Me...Domani A Te, an Italian western written by Dario Argento. Two of his biggest successes as a director were The Hypochondriac (1979) and The Miser (1989).

At the time of his death, Tonino Cervi had just finished shooting his latest movie, The Recipe Book (Il Quaderno Della Spesa), which is set in the early 19th century and tells the story of a cook who seduces a writer.

He is survived by his companion, actress Emanuela Muri, and four children.