Kojak creator Abby Mann has passed away, aged 80.

The cause of death was heart failure, according to his wife Myra Maislin.

The writer's 1973 Emmy-winning film The Marcus-Nelson Murders was the first time New York detective Theo Kojak, played by Telly Savalas, was seen on TV screens.

Kojak went on to be a long-running popular TV series throughout the '70s.

Mann won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay with Judgment for Nuremberg in 1961.

When he accepted the gong, Mann said: "I believe that a writer worth his salt at all has an obligation not only to entertain but to comment on the world in which he lives, not only to comment, but maybe have a shot at reshaping the world."

Friend and former Writers Guild of America president Del Reisman said: "From his earliest days as a writer, he was guided by a moral compass that never wavered."

He is survived by two daughters, Adrienne and Abigail, one son, Aaron, and a granddaughter.