Background
Forbes, Bryan was born on July 22, 1926 in London, England. Son of William Theobald and Judith Kate Helen (Seaton) Forbes.
(A sequel, by the film director and author Bryan Forbes, t...)
A sequel, by the film director and author Bryan Forbes, to Enid Bagnold's classic horse-racing story, "National Velvet". Orphaned by a road crash, Velvet Brown's niece, Sarah, comes to England to live with her. Only when Sarah discovers her talent for riding does her sadness fade.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553121421/?tag=2022091-20
(Down on his luck and recovering from a bitter disappointm...)
Down on his luck and recovering from a bitter disappointment, Hollywood scriptwriter, Harvey Burgess thinks his problems are solved when he is summoned to the South of France to rewrite the script of a flagging movie about the French Revolution. But it is not as straightforward as it sounds. On the set he finds an unworkable script, an uncooperative film crew - and the stunning Laura.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671506102/?tag=2022091-20
(An autobiography of Bryan Forbes, describing his turbulen...)
An autobiography of Bryan Forbes, describing his turbulent years as head of production of EMI. The author also recollects his friendships with such stars as Graham Greene, Peter Sellers, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Terence Rattigan.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0434268283/?tag=2022091-20
(A Christmas comedy of manners in which everything goes wr...)
A Christmas comedy of manners in which everything goes wrong in the Chivers household, as family and friends arrive for the festivities. Can goodwill extend to Tony's brother, who arrives without his family and with a new religion, or to Tony's son, who brings along an "older woman"?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1782922326/?tag=2022091-20
(Written by the author of "Truth Lies Sleeping" and "The R...)
Written by the author of "Truth Lies Sleeping" and "The Rewrite Man", this thriller is written on a large canvas, shifting from the Cambridge of the 30s to Franco's Spain, Berlin between the wars, London during the Blitz and the Hollywood of the McCarthy period.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0340260181/?tag=2022091-20
(A Bryan Forbes spy thriller set in London, Moscow and Len...)
A Bryan Forbes spy thriller set in London, Moscow and Leningrad. As Britain descends into anarchy, discredited MI6 officer Alec Hillsden, exiled in Leningrad, tries to smuggle out of Russia evidence that will expose the socialist British Prime Minister as a puppet of the Soviet Government.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0708985726/?tag=2022091-20
Forbes, Bryan was born on July 22, 1926 in London, England. Son of William Theobald and Judith Kate Helen (Seaton) Forbes.
Studied at Royal Academy Dramatic Art, London, 1942. Doctor of Letters (honorary), Council for National Academy Awards, 1987.
Here is a career to illustrate the misleading story-book road to success in the British film industry. In March 1971, still only forty-five years old, Forbes resigned from one of the rare executive positions in charge of British production. For two years he had headed the EMI setup, pledged to distinguished, modest-priced movies. To its credit was the bonanza of The Railway Children, the eccentricity ol The Tides of Beatrix Potter, and a string of mediocre, bloodless ventures: Hoffmann, The Breaking of Bumbo, and his own The Raging Moon. As a group, the films seemed to retract from opportunity, rather than grasp it. The fact is that as actor, writer, director, and executive he has often lacked creative confidence and character.
In his enforced rest he wrote a novel. This was a true reversal since, while still a drama student, he had begun by writing fiction. After military service he went into films as a supporting actor, as bright and callow as a midshipman: The Small Back Room (48, Michael Powell); All Over the Town (48, Derek Twist); Dear Mr. Prohack (49, Thornton Freeland); The Wooden Horse (50, Jack Lee); Green Grow the Rushes (51, Twist); The World in His Arms (52, Raoul Walsh); Appointment in London (52, Philip Leacock); Sea Devils (53, Walsh); The Million Pound Note (53, Ronald Neame); An Inspector Calls (54, Guy Hamilton); The Colditz Story (54, Hamilton); Passage Home (55, Roy Baker); Now and Forever (55, Mario Zampi); The Last Man to Hang (56, Terence Fisher); It’s Great to Be Young (56, Cyril Frankel); The Key (58, Carol Reed); Was Monty’s Double (58, John Cuillermin); and Yesterday’s Enemy (59, Val Guest).
But earnest effort got him nowhere as an actor. It w as as a writer that he promoted himself, partly on the wings of the spurious realism that regenerated British cinema: Cockleshell Heroes (56, José Ferrer); House of Secrets (56, Guy Green); I Was Monty’s Double; The Captain’s table (59, Lee); and The Angry Silence (60, Green), which he also coproduced with Richard Attenborough. The mixture of emotional melodrama and industrial setting was well intentioned but fixedly middle-brow. No doubt Forbes worked out of a sense of dissatisfaction with the complacency of British films, but instead of vigor he brought neatness, stridency, and eventually pretentiousness to them. The League of Gentlemen (60, Basil Dearden), in which he also acted, was polished entertainment and Only Two Can Play (61, Sidney Gilliat) was amusing. But his script of Station Six Sahara (64, Seth Holt) depended on Holt’s unstable vitality. His work on Of Human Bondage (64, Ken Hughes and Henry Hathaway) was simply routine.
But The Angry Silence had led Forbes toward direction and a recurring compromise between anodyne seriousness and popular taste. His films tend to run together, without dominant themes or personal style. All too easily they surrender to plot novelty and obvious, slick effect.
The best that can be said for them is that they have won some good performances from Hayley Mills, Richard Attenborough, and Edith Evans. But their range seems insecure and the gulf between the women’s magazine romanticism of The L-Shaped Room and the cynicism ol King Rat is that of a bureaucrat too harassed by his financiers to find a personality. Seance on a Wet Afternoon is a good subject, but taken out ol Forbes’s hands by Kim Stanlev’s overacting.
His last credit was on the screenplay of Chaplin (92, Attenborough).
(Written by the author of "Truth Lies Sleeping" and "The R...)
(Down on his luck and recovering from a bitter disappointm...)
(A Christmas comedy of manners in which everything goes wr...)
(A sequel, by the film director and author Bryan Forbes, t...)
(An autobiography of Bryan Forbes, describing his turbulen...)
(A Bryan Forbes spy thriller set in London, Moscow and Len...)
(The twisted Playground - Bryan Forbes - Mandarin)
(Familiar Stranger / Quicksand. By Ryan Forbes (Author) us...)
Debut in The Corn Is Green, London, 1942. Other stage appearances include Flare Path, 1943, Gathering Storm, 1948, September Tide, 1948, The Holly and the Ivy, 1950, Tobias and the Angel, 1953, A Touch of Fear, 1956. Director Macbeth, The Old Vic, 1980, Killing Jessica, Savoy Theater, 1986, revival of The Living Room, Royalty Theatre, 1987.Actor in films The Wooden Horse, 1948, An Inspector Calls, 1954, The Baby and the Battleship, 1955, The Key, 1957, The League of Gentlemen, 1959. Director films including Whistle Down the Wind, 1961, The L-Shaped Room, 1962, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, 1963, King Rat, 1964, The Wrong Box, 1965, The Whisperers, 1966, Deadfall, 1967, The Madwoman of Chailot, 1968, The Raging Moon (United States title Long Ago Tomorrow), 1970, The Stepford Wives, 1974. Writer, director films The Slipper and the Rose, 1975.Writer, producer, director film International Velvet, 1978. Director British segment of The Sunday Lovers, 1980. Writer, director (original screenplay for British Broadcasting Corporation 1) Jessie, broadcast December 1980, Menage à Trois (United States title Better Late Than Never), 1981, The Naked Face, 1983, The Endless Game, 1988.Fiction critic: Spectator, 1952-1961. Screenwriter The Angry Silence, 1959 (British Academy award), The League of Gentlemen, 1959, Only Two Can Play, 1962 (British Academy award), The L-Shaped Room, 1962 (United Nations award), Seance on a Wet Afternoon, 1964 (Edgar award). Author: (with Brian Garfield) Hopscotch, (short stories) Truth Lies Sleeping, 1951, (autobiography) Notes for a Life, 1974, Ned's Girl, The Biography of Dame Edith Evans, 1977, That Despicable Race, 1980.(novels) The Distant Laughter, 1972, The Slipper and the Rose, 1976, International Velvet, 1978, Familiar Strangers (United States title Stranger), 1979, The Rewrite Man, 1983, The Endless Game, 1986, A Song at Twilight (United States title A Spy at Twilight), 1989, (autobiography) A Divided Life, 1992, (novels) The Twisted Playground, 1993, Partly Cloudy, 1995.
Served with British Army, 1943-1948. Member British Screenwriters Guild (council treasurer 1960-1963, president 1988-1991), British Actors Equity, Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild American, Directors Guild American, Association Cinema Technicians, National Youth Theatre Great Britain (president since 1984), Beatrix Potter Society (president).
Married Constance Smith, February 19, 1951 (divorced 1955). Married Nanette Newman, August 27, 1955. Children: Sarah Kate Amanda (Lady Leon), Emma Katy (Mistress Graham Clempson).