Ex-Rep. Charlie Wilson

DALLAS - Charlie Wilson, 76, the former congressman from Texas whose funding of Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie

Charlie Wilson's War

, died yesterday.

He died at Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin after he started having difficulty breathing during a meeting in the eastern Texas town where he lived, hospital spokeswoman Yana Ogletree said. Rep. Wilson was pronounced dead on arrival, and the preliminary cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest, she said.

He represented the Second District in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996 and was known in Washington as "Good Time Charlie" for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer.

Actor Tom Hanks portrayed Rep. Wilson in the 2007 movie about the congressman's efforts to arm Afghan mujaheddin during Afghanistan's war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Rep. Wilson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, helped secure money for weapons.

In 2007, he had a heart transplant at a Houston hospital. Doctors had told Rep. Wilson, who suffered from cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes an enlarged and weakened heart, that he would likely die without a transplant.

"Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator," said Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as Rep. Wilson's chief of staff in Washington and worked with Rep. Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate. "He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented."

Schnabel said he had just been with Rep. Wilson a few weeks ago for the dedication of the Charlie Wilson chair for Pakistan studies at the University of Texas, Austin, a $1 million endowment. He said Rep. Wilson had been doing well.

Rep. Wilson is survived by his wife, Barbara, and a sister.