Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian exile who spent time at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, director Steven Spielberg’s film “Terminal,” died of a heart attack on Saturday at Terminal 2F at the same airport, Variety said.

The outlet reports that Mahran, also known as Sir Alfred, has been staying at the airport again in recent weeks. He lives in Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

In 1988, Mahran first settled at the airport after Great Britain refused to grant him political asylum as a refugee, even though his mother was Scottish.

According to Variety, he deliberately chose to stay at the airport after declaring himself stateless, and his luggage was reportedly always at his side.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri goes to bed early in the morning, at Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris

Variety reports that Mehran, who first left the airport while hospitalized in 2006, after living there for 18 years, has spent time reading, writing memoirs and studying economics.

Spielberg decided to make it Terminal in 2004 based on its unorthodox situation. Tom Hanks stars as an Eastern European man who stays at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after being denied entry to the United States.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri looks at a movie poster inspired by his life

Additionally, the French film “Tombes du ciel” from 1993, starring Jean Rochefort, was also inspired by Mahran, which was the subject of numerous documentaries and press files.

According to Variety, he is believed to have been born in 1945 in the Iranian city of Masjed Soleiman and his autobiography entitled ‘The Terminal Man’ was published in 2004.

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by the NDTV crew and published from a syndicated feed.)