Alistair Cooke died today

Alistair Cooke

NEW YORK (AP) - Alistair Cooke, the quintessentially urbane host of television's "Masterpiece Theatre" and interpreter of U.S. culture for decades on British radio's "Letter from America," died Tuesday. He was 95.

The British-born Cooke passed away at midnight in his adopted home country, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. No cause of death was given, but Cooke had retired earlier this month because of heart disease.

"Letter from America," which was carried on the BBC World Service and on Radio 4 in Britain, started in 1946, and was originally scheduled to run 13 weeks. The BBC announced Cooke's retirement March 2.

He was host of the "Omnibus" television program in the United States from 1952 to 1961, and presented "Masterpiece Theatre" on the PBS network from 1971 to 1992.

Born Alfred Cooke in northern England, he earned an honors degree in English from Cambridge University, changed his name to Alistair and joined the BBC in 1934 as a film critic. He had been the BBC commentator on American affairs since 1938.

In addition to his BBC work, Cooke was London correspondent for the NBC network in 1936-37, The Manchester Guardian's United Nations correspondent from 1945 to 1948, and chief U.S. correspondent of The Guardian until 1972.