Tributes have been paid to actor Harry Dean Stanton who starred in a number of classic films.

Stanton, who has died at the age of 91, played roles in film greats such as Alien, The Green Mile, Cool Hand Luke and The Godfather.

Known as a cult actor, Stanton died of natural causes at a medical centre in Los Angeles on Friday.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill and Twin Peaks creator David Lynch were among the names of film and TV to lead tributes to Stanton.

Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, described Stanton as "incomparable" while Lynch labelled him a "great one".

Throughout his 60-year career, Stanton starred in around 200 films and television shows.

His most memorable credits included Alien, 1984's Paris, Texas, which featured Nastassja Kinski as his wife, and the TV show Big Love.

Stanton also appeared in The Godfather Part II (1974), The Green Mile (1999), Cool Hand Luke (1967), and more recently Alpha Dog (2005).

He played a role in this year's revival of cult classic Twin Peaks.

John Carpenter, who directed Stanton in Escape from New York, paid tribute to the actor, calling him "a wonderful man".

Hamill posted a black and white photograph of Stanton on Twitter, writing alongside it: "Sad to say goodbye to the incomparable Harry Dean Stanton - so profoundly authentic in every role he inhabited.

Lynch described him as a "great one" in a statement posted on the official Twin Peaks Twitter account.

Director and actor Samuel West tweeted: "Harry Dean Stanton in PARIS, TEXAS. He redefined acting for me. That someone could be silent, still and yet utterly mesmeric. RIP."