Education
West Ham Secondary School. At Royal Academy Dramatic Art, first stage appearance 1942.
London h 22 July 1926 Stratford
West Ham Secondary School. At Royal Academy Dramatic Art, first stage appearance 1942.
Served in Intelligence Corps 1944-1948. Entered films as actor 1948. Wrote and co-produced The Angry Silence 1959.
Director Whistle Down the Wind 1961. Writer and Director The L-Shaped Room 1962, Seance on a Wet Afternoon 1963, King Rat 1964. Writer Only Two Can Play 1962.
Producer and Director The Wrong Box 1965. Writer, Producer and Director The Whisperers 1966, Deadfall 1967, The Madwoman of Chaillot 1968, The Raging Moon (Long Ago Tomorrow in United States of America) 1970. Director Macbeth 1980, Killing Jessica 1986, Star Quality 1986, The Living Room 1987.
Writer, Producer and Director filmed biography of Dame Edith Evans for Yorkshire TV 1973. Filmed documentary on life style of Elton John for ATV 1974. Wrote and director The Slipper and the Rose 1975, Menage a trois (Better Late than Never in United States of America) 1981, The Endless Game 1989 (for Channel 4 TV).
Director British segment of The Sunday Lovers 1980. Director The King in Yellow (for LWT Television) 1982, The Naked Face 1983. Produced, wrote and director International Velvet 1977.
Head of Production, Association British Picture Corporation 1969-1971, subsequently became EMI Film. President Beatrix Potter Society since 1982, National Youth Theatre since 1984, Writers Guild of Great Britain since 1988. Director Capital Radio Ltd.
Honorary degree (Council for National Academic.
Truth Lies Sleeping (short stories) 1951, The Distant Laughter (novel) 1972, Notes for a Life (autobiog.) 1974, The Slipper and the Rose 1976, Ned’s Girl (biography of Dame Edith Evans) 1977, International Velvet (novel) 1978, Familiar Strangers (novel, United States title Stranger) 1979, That Despicable Race—a History of the British Acting Tradition 1980, The Rewrite Man (novel) 1983, The Endless Game (novel) 1986, A Song at Twilight (novel) 1989.
Married Nanette Newman in 1955.