Author Tom Clancy dies aged 66

American author Tom Clancy has died aged 66.

Best known for creating the character of fearless CIA analyst Jack Ryan, Clancy was a former insurance broker who made it big with his best-selling spy books.

His name became well-known to movie fans when his novel The Hunt For Red October was adapted into a movie in 1990, with Alec Baldwin playing Ryan.

Red October gained particular acclaim when it was published in 1984 thanks to the book finding a fan in President Ronald Reagan, who hailed it as a “perfect yarn”.

Since then, four more of Clancy’s Ryan books have been turned into films starring Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck (the author's favourite), with the latest – Jack Ryan: Shadow One starring Chris Pine – due in cinemas in December 2013.

Clancy also had an interest in videogames, having worked on the Splinter Cell series and creating 2006’s Rainbow Six: Critical Hour.

Our thoughts are with Clancy's family at this time.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.