Paris - French author Maurice Druon, a former culture minister and fighter for France's World War II resistance movement, died Tuesday aged 90, the Academie francaise announced. Druon, author of numerous novels, was hailed by President Nicolas Sarkozy as "grand scribe and a grand soul."

He is best known for Les Rois Maudits, or The Accused Kings, a series of historical novels published in the 1950s.