In The News

Film director and writer Bryan Forbes passes away

Film director and writer Bryan Forbes passes away

THE film director, actor and writer Bryan Forbes has passed away at the age of 86.

Mr. Forbes was regarded as having been one of the great creative forces in British cinema as well as having worked in Hollywood.

Born in the West Ham area of London, he took the name Forbes after his own name, John Clarke, had already been registered with the actors’ union Equity.

His early screen appearances included An Inspector Calls (1954) and The Colditz Story (1955), but his ambitions to write and direct films received a major boost in 1959 when he established the independent company Beaver Films with Richard Attenborough. He wrote the screenplay for their first production, The Angry Silence (1960), which starred Attenborough in the role of a worker who refuses to join a strike. He also wrote and starred in The League of Gentlemen (1960).

His directional debut came in 1962 with Whistle Down The Wind (see below) which starred a young Hayley Mills. He went on to direct a number of films including Seance On A Wet Afternoon (1964), see below.

For Hollywood, he directed and scripted King Rat (1965), but he was to return to Britain to run Elstree Studios during which time he directed The Raging Moon (1970) which starred his wife Nanette Newman.

Mr. Forbes then directed his wife in the The Stepford Wives (1975) for Hollywood. His final film credit was The Endless Game (1990) while his final screenplay credit was for Chaplin (1992).

In recent years Mr. Forbes had concentrated on writing — producing two volumes of autobiography as well as works of fiction which include The Soldier’s Story which was published in 2012.

He was appointed C.B.E. in 2004.

Mr. Forbes is survived by his wife Nanette and daughters Emma and Sarah.

To view an excerpt from Whistle Down The Wind, click here.

To see an interview in which Mr. Forbes discusses his film Seance on a Wet Afternoon, click here.

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