Milos Forman, 86, Dies; Won Oscars for ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Amadeus’

Milos Forman, a filmmaker who challenged Hollywood with his subversive touch and twice directed movies that won the Oscar for best picture, died on Friday in a hospital in Danbury, Conn. He was 86.

His death was confirmed by Dennis Aspland, Mr. Forman’s agent. No cause was given. Mr. Forman lived in northwest Connecticut, in Warren.

Mr. Forman came to the United States from what was then Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s as a rebellious young filmmaker whose satirical bent had been little welcomed at home in the wake of the 1968 Soviet invasion.

Just a few years later, Mr. Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” — an adaptation of Ken Kesey’s tragicomic novel of revolt and repression in a mental institution — won five Oscars, including those for best director and best picture.

The film put Mr. Forman in the front rank of directors who struggled to make big, commercial films with countercultural sensibilities. His sympathy for the odd man out was always apparent, even as his movies grew in scope.

“Amadeus,” a 1984 adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s stage play, presented Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a genius who undermined authority with his art. Again, Oscars for best director and best picture were among its many honors.