British film director Val Guest, whose work included The Quatermass Xperiment and The Day the Earth Caught Fire, has died in California at age 94.

His wife, actress Yolande Donlan, said Guest died of prostate cancer May 10 in a hospice on Palm Desert, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Guest started his career 50 years ago writing British comedies and moved into film directing in the 1940s.

His 1961 doomsday sci-fi flick, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, earned him a screenplay award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. His 1955 The Quatermass Xperiment was a sci-fi horror story about rocket crew member who turns into a monster after surviving a crash.

Although he was probably best known for his sci-fi films, Guest directed more than 50 other films ranging comedy to thrillers to dramas, the Times said. Guest was among the five credited directors on the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale.

Guest wrote his autobiography, So You Want to Be in Pictures, in 2001.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, two sons and two grandchildren.