Dith Pran, portrayed in 'Killing Fields,' dies

NEW YORK -- The journalist whose enslavement and escape from Cambodia's murderous revolutionaries was the subject of the movie "The Killing Fields" has died.

Dith Pran's death from pancreatic cancer was confirmed Sunday by journalist Sydney Schanberg, his former colleague at The New York Times. Pran was 65.

Dith worked as a photographer for The New York Times after his escape from the Khmer Rouge in 1979. He also became a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Dith spoke and wrote often about his wartime experience and remained an outspoken critic of the Khmer Rouge regime.