Frederick Forsyth is dead: “The Jackal” author died at the age of 86

British writer Frederick Forsyth has died. The author of thrillers such as "The Jackal" and "The Odessa File" died on Monday after a short illness at the age of 86, as his agency confirmed to the PA news agency and the BBC. Forsyth worked for several years as a foreign correspondent and later wrote novels set in the world of intelligence.

His first novel, "The Jackal," tells the story of an assassination attempt on French President Charles de Gaulle. The story was made into a film in the 1970s. An action film of the same name was also released in the 1990s. The novel, starring actor Bruce Willis, was loosely based on Forsyth's original.

The Briton, born in Ashford, England, in 1938, grew up during World War II. As a child, he wanted to be a fighter pilot, but later he was drawn abroad as a journalist. He reported for the Reuters news agency as a correspondent from Paris and, in the midst of the Cold War, from East Berlin.

He reportedly wrote his later bestseller, "The Jackal," in just 35 days, as Forsyth recounted in his autobiography, "Outsider." The Englishman also wrote novels such as "The Dogs of War," "The Avenger," "The Afghan," and "The Kill List."

In his memoirs, published in 2015, he also reported having worked for the British secret service for a time. Forsyth wrote that he once entered the GDR as a tourist, intending to bring a package back on his way home. He was handed the documents in a museum restroom in Dresden.

The Telegraph newspaper once asked Forsyth what his younger self would have done with his life. "There were times when it seemed as if I wouldn't live to see breakfast the next morning," Forsyth replied. But he had been very lucky in life—for example, joining the Royal Air Force and working as a correspondent in Biafra, Paris, and East Berlin. And he was lucky, he said, to turn much of it into books.

RND/dpa