Bryan Forbes
Encyclopedia
Bryan Forbes, CBE
is an English
film director
, actor
and writer
.
, West Ham
, Essex
(now Greater London
), and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate
, West Ham
, Essex
(now Greater London
).
Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts but did not complete his studies. After military service from 1945 to 1948, he played numerous supporting roles in British films including in 1955 The Colditz Story
, alongside John Mills
, as well as appearing on the stage, but was obliged to change his name by British Equity to avoid confusion with the adolescent actor John Clark
. He began also to write for the screen, receiving his first full credit for The Cockleshell Heroes
in 1955. Another noted screenplay of his from this period was for The League of Gentlemen
in 1959, in which he also acted.
He formed a production company with his frequent collaborator Richard Attenborough
in 1959 (Beaver Films), which went on to make The Angry Silence
in 1960, a screenplay by Forbes in which Attenborough took the lead role, and both shared production responsibilities. In 1961 he made his directorial debut Whistle Down the Wind
, again produced by Attenborough. In 1964, Forbes wrote and directed Séance on a Wet Afternoon
, for which he won a 1965 Edgar Award
from the Mystery Writers of America
, for Best Foreign Film Screenplay. That same year he wrote the third screen adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel Of Human Bondage
. In 1965 he went to Hollywood to make King Rat
. A 1968 caper film, Deadfall
, starred Michael Caine
.
In 1969, Forbes was appointed chief of production and managing director of the film studio Associated British (EMI
), but the experience was not a success and he resigned the post in 1971, though he was partially responsible for financing The Railway Children
(1970). After his experience as an executive, Forbes film output declined, although he did enjoy success as the director of The Raging Moon
(1971) and The Stepford Wives
(1975).
In 1972, Forbes started work on the documentary, "Elton John And Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye Norma Jean and Other Things," which chronicled the life of a young John and Taupin during their rise to fame in the early years of the duo's now legendary partnership. The project would take Forbes a full year to complete, and in particular provided a behind the scenes look at the writing and recording of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," including interviews with John, Taupin, and band members including Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray, as well as John's mother, Sheila, DJM label president Dick James and son Stephen, and footage of John's famed 1973 Hollywood Bowl concert. (Some of the footage was licensed for the Eagle Vision Classic Albums series "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" documentary.)
During the filming, Forbes formed a close friendship with John and Taupin, which led him to do other work with them, including photography on the "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album sleeves. The documentary aired in the U.S. on ABC TV shortly after completion, and was later briefly issued on VHS. No official DVD release has surfaced, at least not in the U.S.
The Slipper and the Rose
(1976), International Velvet
(1978) and The Naked Face
(1984) were not successful. More recently, he scripted Attenborough's Chaplin (1992)
, since 1955, and has often directed her. Roger Moore
was not their best man as it is believed - which his wife confirmed on the Alan Titchmarsh Show. The couple have two daughters: Emma Forbes and Sarah Standing (born 21 May 1959), the latter married to actor John Standing
.
He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
in 1975, though he is currently in remission, and since the early 1970s he has divided his energies between cinema
, television
, theatre
and writing a number of successful novel
s and two volumes of autobiography
. He is now a regular contributor to The Spectator
magazine.
In 2004, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the arts and he currently serves as president of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Career
Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, StratfordStratford
Stratford is a place name found in many English-speaking countries. It derives from the Old English words stræt and ford...
, West Ham
West Ham
West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
(now Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
), and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate
Forest Gate
Forest Gate is a residential area in the London Borough of Newham, 7 miles northeast of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Manor Park to the east and and to the west lies Stratford town centre. The northern half of the busy Green Street runs through it.-History:...
, West Ham
West Ham
West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
(now Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
).
Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts but did not complete his studies. After military service from 1945 to 1948, he played numerous supporting roles in British films including in 1955 The Colditz Story
The Colditz Story
The Colditz Story is a 1955 prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton.It is based on the book written by P.R...
, alongside John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
, as well as appearing on the stage, but was obliged to change his name by British Equity to avoid confusion with the adolescent actor John Clark
John Clark (actor/director)
Ivan John Clark is an English actor, director, producer, and writer with British, American and Canadian citizenship. He is also known as the ex-husband of actress Lynn Redgrave, to whom he was married for 33 years.-Early career:...
. He began also to write for the screen, receiving his first full credit for The Cockleshell Heroes
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed. Set during the Second World War, it is a fictionalised account of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid by canoe-borne British commandos on shipping in Bordeaux Harbour...
in 1955. Another noted screenplay of his from this period was for The League of Gentlemen
The League of Gentlemen (film)
The League of Gentlemen is a 1960 British crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick and Richard Attenborough. It was based on the 1958 novel by John Boland and adapted by Bryan Forbes, who also starred in the film...
in 1959, in which he also acted.
He formed a production company with his frequent collaborator Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
in 1959 (Beaver Films), which went on to make The Angry Silence
The Angry Silence
The Angry Silence is a 1960 British drama film directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough. Screenwriter Bryan Forbes won a BAFTA Award and an Oscar nomination for his contribution...
in 1960, a screenplay by Forbes in which Attenborough took the lead role, and both shared production responsibilities. In 1961 he made his directorial debut Whistle Down the Wind
Whistle Down the Wind (film)
Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British film, directed by Bryan Forbes, screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell.-Plot:...
, again produced by Attenborough. In 1964, Forbes wrote and directed Séance on a Wet Afternoon
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Séance on a Wet Afternoon is a 1964 British film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the novel by Mark McShane in which an unstable medium convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can help the police solve the crime and collect the ransom...
, for which he won a 1965 Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
from the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
, for Best Foreign Film Screenplay. That same year he wrote the third screen adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage (1964 film)
Of Human Bondage is a 1964 British drama film directed by Ken Hughes. The MGM release, the third screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel, was written by Bryan Forbes.-Synopsis:...
. In 1965 he went to Hollywood to make King Rat
King Rat (1965 film)
King Rat is a 1965 World War II film adapted from the James Clavell novel King Rat. The film was directed by Bryan Forbes and starred George Segal as Corporal King and James Fox as Marlow, two World War II prisoners of war in a squalid camp near Singapore...
. A 1968 caper film, Deadfall
Deadfall
Deadfall is a 1993 film directed by Christopher Coppola. Coppola co-wrote the script with friend, Nick Vallelonga. Starring Michael Biehn, Nicolas Cage, Charlie Sheen, James Coburn, and Peter Fonda.-Plot:...
, starred Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
.
In 1969, Forbes was appointed chief of production and managing director of the film studio Associated British (EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
), but the experience was not a success and he resigned the post in 1971, though he was partially responsible for financing The Railway Children
The Railway Children (film)
The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...
(1970). After his experience as an executive, Forbes film output declined, although he did enjoy success as the director of The Raging Moon
The Raging Moon
The Raging Moon is a British film from 1971 based on the book by British novelist Peter Marshall and starring Malcolm McDowell and Nanette Newman...
(1971) and The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives (1975 film)
The Stepford Wives is a 1975 science fiction–thriller film based on the 1972 Ira Levin novel of the same name. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman, and stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman and Tina Louise...
(1975).
In 1972, Forbes started work on the documentary, "Elton John And Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye Norma Jean and Other Things," which chronicled the life of a young John and Taupin during their rise to fame in the early years of the duo's now legendary partnership. The project would take Forbes a full year to complete, and in particular provided a behind the scenes look at the writing and recording of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," including interviews with John, Taupin, and band members including Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray, as well as John's mother, Sheila, DJM label president Dick James and son Stephen, and footage of John's famed 1973 Hollywood Bowl concert. (Some of the footage was licensed for the Eagle Vision Classic Albums series "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" documentary.)
During the filming, Forbes formed a close friendship with John and Taupin, which led him to do other work with them, including photography on the "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album sleeves. The documentary aired in the U.S. on ABC TV shortly after completion, and was later briefly issued on VHS. No official DVD release has surfaced, at least not in the U.S.
The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose is a 1976 British musical film retelling the classic fairy tale of Cinderella. This film was chosen as the Royal Command Performance motion picture selection for 1976....
(1976), International Velvet
International Velvet (film)
International Velvet is a 1978 dramatic film. It was a remake of the 1944 classic, National Velvet. The film stars Tatum O'Neal, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins and Nanette Newman. The film got mixed reviews.-Plot:...
(1978) and The Naked Face
The Naked Face (film)
The Naked Face is a 1984 film written and directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the book by Sidney Sheldon. It stars Roger Moore, Rod Steiger and Elliott Gould.The film was nominated for "Best Film" at Mystfest, a film festival.-Plot:...
(1984) were not successful. More recently, he scripted Attenborough's Chaplin (1992)
Personal life
Born in London E15, he is a West Ham United supporter. Forbes has been married to his second wife, actress Nanette NewmanNanette Newman
-Early life:Newman was born in Northampton, England. She was educated at Sternhold College, the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts stage school and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.-Career:...
, since 1955, and has often directed her. Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
was not their best man as it is believed - which his wife confirmed on the Alan Titchmarsh Show. The couple have two daughters: Emma Forbes and Sarah Standing (born 21 May 1959), the latter married to actor John Standing
John Standing
Sir John Ronald Leon Standing, 4th Baronet is an English actor.-Early life:Standing was born John Ronald Leon in London, the son of Kay Hammond , an actress, and Sir Ronald George Leon, a stockbroker...
.
He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
in 1975, though he is currently in remission, and since the early 1970s he has divided his energies between cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and writing a number of successful novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and two volumes of autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
. He is now a regular contributor to The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
magazine.
In 2004, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the arts and he currently serves as president of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain
National Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
.