PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Anthony Quinn, the barrel-chested Oscar winner remembered for his roles as the earthy hero of ``Zorba the Greek'' and the fierce Bedouin leader in ``Lawrence of Arabia,'' died Sunday. He was 86.

Quinn died of respiratory failure Sunday morning at a Boston hospital, said Providence Mayor Vincent ``Buddy'' Cianci, a friend of the actor. Quinn lived in nearby Bristol.

'`He was larger than life,'' Cianci said. ``I was proud to call him a friend.''

Quinn, who appeared in more than 100 feature films, won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in ``Viva Zapata!'' and ``Lust for Life.''

Born in Mexico and raised in poverty in East Los Angeles, Quinn went from stage and B-movie roles to become an international leading man renowned for his big-man sensitivity and honest acting style.

In a film career that spanned more than 50 years, Quinn portrayed characters including kings, Indians, a pope, a boxer and an artist.

``I never get the girl,'' Quinn once joked in an interview. ``I wind up with a country instead.''

He won his first Oscar for his work in the 1952 film ``Viva Zapata!'' as the brother of Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata.

To many, Quinn's Oscar-nominated characterization of the Greek peasant Zorba in 1964 remained his most memorable role.

The Ouzo-drinking and bouzouki-dancing Zorba was Quinn's favorite role as well, so much so that he returned to the stage in 1983 in a revival of the musical inspired by the film.

As a child, he shined shoes, sold papers and preached. After working as an movie extra, he met and married the adopted daughter of Cecil B. De Mille, Katherine.

A real-life artist, sculptor and author, his role as painter Paul Gauguin in the 1956 film ``Lust for Life'' earned him his second Oscar. He was on screen in the film for only eight minutes.

Later, after leading roles became less frequent, he left Hollywood to live and work in Italy.

``What could I play there? They only think of me as a Mexican, an Indian or a Mafia don,'' he said in a 1977 interview with The Associated Press.

He was divorced from Katherine in 1965 after he fathered two children with Italian costume designer Yolanda Addolari, sparking an international scandal.

In 1972, Quinn wrote his autobiography, ``The Original Sin,'' which has been translated into more than 18 languages. He followed with a second volume titled ``Suddenly Sunset.''

The characteristically straightforward actor shunned the use of ghost writers, favoring blunt honesty over Hollywood image-making.

``I could either lie or tell the truth,'' he said. ``I figured the only value in such a book would be to describe my life as I lived it.''

In 1978, he played a character closely resembling the late shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in ``The Greek Tycoon.''

As his film career slowed in recent years, Quinn devoted most of his time to painting and sculpting.

Cianci said Quinn had moved to Bristol because ``He wanted to get away from all that New York stuff, all the Hollywood hustle and bustle.''

He had recently worked in television, appearing in a 1990 TV movie based on Ernest Hemingway's classic ``The Old Man and the Sea'' and the 1996 HBO movie, ``Gotti.''

Quinn said in a 1987 interview that he reached most of the goals he set for himself as a young boy.

``I never satisfied that kid but I think he and I have made a deal now,'' he said, referring to his younger self. ``It's like climbing a mountain: I didn't take him up Mount Everest, but I took him up Mount Whitney.

``And I think that's not bad.''

Anthony Quinn played Zeus in the Hercules telemovies.