Mel Ferrer, the actor and filmmaker who was married to Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn for more than a decade, passed away Monday, June 2, at his home near Santa Barbara.

Ferrer died in his sleep on Monday surrounded by relatives and friends at his family’s ranch in Carpenteria, California, near Santa Barbara, spokesman Mike Mena said. He was 90.

Born Melchior Gaston Ferrer on August 25, 1917, in Elberon, New Jersey, he was the son of a Cuban-born surgeon and a prominent New York socialite. He interrupted his studies at Princeton University and pursued acting.

He originally intended to be a writer and published a children’s book. He also worked as a book editor in New York.

Ferrer began as an actor in summer stock, performed on Broadway as a chorus dancer in his early 20s, dabbled in radio and then became involved in motion pictures. He made his big-screen acting debut in the 1949 drama “Lost Boundaries.”

He directed nine feature films and appeared in more than one hundred, including “Scaramouche,” “Knights of the Round Table” (as King Arthur), “The Longest Day,” “The Fall of the Roman Empire,” “The Sun Also Rises,” and “El Greco,” of which he was the star and co-producer.

He also produced films, among the most notable being “Wait Until Dark” (1967) starring Audrey Hepburn. The role earned her the fifth Academy Award nomination.

Ferrer and Hepburn married in 1954. They appeared that year in the Broadway production of “Ondine,” which earned the actress a Tony award. They had one son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer (born 1960), a filmmaker who directed the 2001 documentary “Racehoss.” The couple divorced in 1968.

Ferrer and Hepburn also co-starred in the 1956 movie adaptation of the Leo Tolstoy novel “War and Peace” and he directed her in the 1959 film “Green Mansions,” co-starring Anthony Perkins.

He also directed Claudette Colbert in the 1950 mystery “The Secret Fury.” As an actor, he is perhaps best remembered for his crippled puppeteer role in the 1953 film “Lili,” opposite Leslie Caron.

Ferrer had been married and divorced three times before Hepburn, to Frances Pilchard (one daughter); to Barbara Tripp (a daughter and son); and a remarriage to Pilchard. He married his fourth wife, Elizabeth Soukhotine, who survives him, in 1971.

He is also survived by three sons, two daughters and several grandchildren.