WASHINGTON (AP) - Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Charles Guggenheim died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Guggenheim died at Georgetown University Hospital, a spokeswoman said.

Of the dozens of films Guggenheim produced and directed, one of the most memorable and effective was a biography of Robert F. Kennedy made shortly after the presidential candidate's assassination in 1968. After "RFK Remembered" was shown at that year's Democratic National Convention in Chicago, emotional delegates marched around the hall and sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." In 1969, "RFK Remembered" won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Subject.

Guggenheim won his first Academy Award in 1964 for producing and directing "Nine from Little Rock," about the integration of Arkansas schools. He also received Oscars for "The Johnstown Flood" (1989), which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Pennsylvania disaster, and "A Time for Justice" (1994), a history of the civil rights movement. Overall, he was nominated for 12 Oscars.

The libraries of Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson all feature film biographies produced by Guggenheim. He also produced campaign films for Adlai Stevenson, John, Robert and Edward Kennedy and George McGovern.

Discussing his career as a political filmmaker on PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" in 2000, Guggenheim said: "I made films, in most cases, for men who I liked, and I believed in, and it wasn't hard for me to make films for them. But I became very outdated because no one wants to see films that a producer feels strongly about. They want to make films that fit certain categories of the obligations of the polls."

In a statement Wednesday night, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said: "Charlie was an outstanding artist who worked with film, and he was a dear friend who was always there when we needed him. ... He helped tell the story of America with his genius."

Guggenheim was born in Cincinnati in 1924. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1948. His first job was as a gofer for CBS Radio in New York, and went on to work in television production jobs in Ames, Iowa, and St. Louis. He formed his own company, Guggenheim Productions, in St. Louis, and eventually moved it to Washington.

In 2000, Guggenheim received the Career Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association.

Guggenheim is survived by his wife, Marion; three children, Grace, Davis and Jonathan; and four grandchildren.