Nassau, Bahamas ? Arthur Hailey, author of “Airport,” “Hotel” and other novels that became hit movies, has died, his wife said Thursday. He was 84.

Hailey, who plucked characters from ordinary life and threw them into extraordinary ordeals, died in his sleep Wednesday at his home in Lyford Cay on New Providence island, his wife, Sheila, said. She said doctors believed he had a stroke.

“It is obviously a shock to wake up to, but it was peaceful,” she said. “Arthur was a very humble man, but was delighted with the letters he used to get from readers praising his books. He was incredibly proud of them.”

Hailey’s knack for turning the mundane into thrilling tales brought 11 books published in 40 countries and 38 languages, with 170 million copies in print.

He used the nitty-gritty of bank procedures and hotel management as backdrops for page-turning plots, preferring real-life characters like managers and doctors to vampires and spies.

“I don’t think I really invented anybody,” Hailey said in a 2001 interview with The Associated Press. “I have drawn on real life.”

In the 1968 novel “Airport,” manager Mel Bakersfield faces a crisis when a mad bomber boards a flight. “Airport” later hit movie screens, with Burt Lancaster starring as Bakersfield and Dean Martin as a womanizing pilot. The film opened the door for other disaster movies of the 1970s.

Airport author Arthur Hailey gives an interview at his home in Lyford Cay, Bahamas, in this Aug. 29, 2001, file photo. The best-selling novelist died in his sleep Wednesday night at his home. He was 84.

Other novels made into movies include “Wheels” and “Strong Medicine.”

Born April 5, 1920, in Luton, England, Hailey had to stop school at 14 because his parents couldn’t afford to send him beyond England’s free education system. He served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Hailey had four sons and two daughters from two marriages. Sheila Hailey said she and his children would plan a party to celebrate his life in January, as was his wish.