John and Roy Boulting
Encyclopedia
John Edward Boulting and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 November 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers
and identical twins who became known for their popular series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s.
, England on 21 November 1913, to Arthur Boulting and Rose Bennet. They worked together as producer and director whenever they could, and often alternated these duties depending on the nature of the film they were working on, although they also made films separately. The two worked as screenwriters on their own films.
They began with serious, tight, economical drama films such as Seven Days to Noon
(1950) and Graham Greene
's Brighton Rock (1947) (both with producer: Roy, director: John). They then became known for a series of satirical comedy films which are considered British classics today, such as Private's Progress
(1956), Lucky Jim
(1957) and I'm All Right Jack
(1959), all with the same credits as above, and usually with John as co-writer. The comedies often starred Ian Carmichael
as the lead, along with Richard Attenborough
and Terry-Thomas
; and often Dennis Price
, John Le Mesurier
, Irene Handl
and Miles Malleson
.
I'm All Right Jack also starred Peter Sellers
and boosted his film career, winning him a BAFTA
Best Actor Award. He also appeared in other Boulting brothers films later. The Family Way
(1966) was a slightly controversial film about a young married couple and their down-to-earth family.
Roy Boulting did some work in British TV in the 1980s including directing one of the popular BBC
Miss Marple
mysteries. In 1971, he married Hayley Mills
whom he met on the set of The Family Way, and they had a son, Crispian Mills
. They divorced in 1977.
John died on 17 June 1985 in Sunningdale
, Berkshire, and Roy on 5 November 2001.
Their elder brother Sydney Boulting, became an actor and stage producer
as Peter Cotes
; he was the original director of The Mousetrap
.
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...
and identical twins who became known for their popular series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
The twin brothers were born in Bray, BerkshireBray, Berkshire
Bray, sometimes known as Bray on Thames, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It stands on the banks of the River Thames, just south-east of Maidenhead. It is famous as the village mentioned in the song The Vicar of Bray...
, England on 21 November 1913, to Arthur Boulting and Rose Bennet. They worked together as producer and director whenever they could, and often alternated these duties depending on the nature of the film they were working on, although they also made films separately. The two worked as screenwriters on their own films.
They began with serious, tight, economical drama films such as Seven Days to Noon
Seven Days to Noon
Seven Days to Noon is a 1950 British drama / thriller film directed by John Boulting and Roy Boulting. Paul Dehn and James Bernard won the Academy Award for Best Story for this film.-Plot:The film is set in the early 1950s...
(1950) and Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
's Brighton Rock (1947) (both with producer: Roy, director: John). They then became known for a series of satirical comedy films which are considered British classics today, such as Private's Progress
Private's Progress
Private's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.-Plot:...
(1956), Lucky Jim
Lucky Jim
Lucky Jim is an academic satire written by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel, and won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction...
(1957) and I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...
(1959), all with the same credits as above, and usually with John as co-writer. The comedies often starred Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
as the lead, along with 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...
and Terry-Thomas
Terry-Thomas
Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads and toffs, with the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as...
; and often Dennis Price
Dennis Price
Dennis Price was an English actor, remembered for his suave screen roles, particularly Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and for his portrayal of the omniscient valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G...
, John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
, Irene Handl
Irene Handl
-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
and Miles Malleson
Miles Malleson
William Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
.
I'm All Right Jack also starred Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and boosted his film career, winning him a BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
Best Actor Award. He also appeared in other Boulting brothers films later. The Family Way
The Family Way
The Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed....
(1966) was a slightly controversial film about a young married couple and their down-to-earth family.
Roy Boulting did some work in British TV in the 1980s including directing one of the popular BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Miss Marple
Miss Marple (TV series)
Miss Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It starred Joan Hickson in the title role, and aired from 1984 to 1992. All twelve original Miss Marple Christie novels have been dramatised. The screenplays were written by T. R...
mysteries. In 1971, he married Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...
whom he met on the set of The Family Way, and they had a son, Crispian Mills
Crispian Mills
Crispian Mills is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is the son of actress Hayley Mills and director Roy Boulting, the grandson of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell , nephew of Juliet Mills and Jonathan Mills, and half-brother to Jason "Ace" Lawson...
. They divorced in 1977.
John died on 17 June 1985 in Sunningdale
Sunningdale
Sunningdale is a large village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England.-Location:Sunningdale is located close to the present border with Surrey, and is not far from Ascot, Sunninghill and Virginia Water. It is situated 24 miles west of London and 7...
, Berkshire, and Roy on 5 November 2001.
Their elder brother Sydney Boulting, became an actor and stage producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
as Peter Cotes
Peter Cotes
Peter Cotes was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager.Cotes was born as Sydney Boulting in Maidenhead, Berkshire. His twin brothers John and Roy Boulting became noted film makers. He began as an actor, before concentrating on theatre production...
; he was the original director of The Mousetrap
The Mousetrap
The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show of the modern...
.
John
- Journey Together (1945)
- Brighton Rock (1947)
- Seven Days to NoonSeven Days to NoonSeven Days to Noon is a 1950 British drama / thriller film directed by John Boulting and Roy Boulting. Paul Dehn and James Bernard won the Academy Award for Best Story for this film.-Plot:The film is set in the early 1950s...
(1950) - The Magic BoxThe Magic Box (film)The Magic Box is a 1951 British, Technicolor, biographical drama film, directed by John Boulting and starring Ronald Shiner as the Fairground Barker, Sid James, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov and Charles Victor. It was produced by Ronald Neame and distributed by British Lion Film Corporation...
(1951) - Private's ProgressPrivate's ProgressPrivate's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.-Plot:...
(1956) - Lucky JimLucky JimLucky Jim is an academic satire written by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel, and won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction...
(1957) - I'm All Right JackI'm All Right JackI'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...
(1959) - Heavens Above!Heavens Above!Heavens Above! is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge...
(1963) - Rotten to the Core (1965)
- The Number (1979)
Roy
- Inquest (1940)
- Thunder RockThunder Rock (film)Thunder Rock is a 1942 British drama film with supernatural elements, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Lilli Palmer and Barbara Mullen.-Background:...
(1942) - Tunisian VictoryTunisian VictoryTunisian Victory is a 1944 Anglo-American propaganda film about the victories in the North Africa Campaign.The film follows both armies from the planning of Operation Torch / Operation Acrobat to the liberation of Tunis...
(1944, documentary co-directed with Frank CapraFrank CapraFrank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
) - Fame is the SpurFame is the Spur (film)Fame is the Spur is a 1947 British drama film directed by Roy Boulting. It stars Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bernard Miles, David Tomlinson, Maurice Denham and Kenneth Griffith. A British politician rises to power, abandoning on the way his radical views for more conservative ones...
(1947) - The Guinea Pig (1948)
- Singlehanded (1951)
- High TreasonHigh Treason (1951 film)High Treason is a 1951 British espionage thriller filmed in the style of such American "docudramas" as The House on 92nd Street and T-Men. It is a sequel to the Oscar-winning 1950 film Seven Days to Noon. Director Roy Boulting, co-director and co-writer of the first film, also directed and...
(1951) - Sailor of the King (1953)
- Seagulls Over SorrentoSeagulls Over SorrentoSeagulls Over Sorrento is a 1954 British wartime drama film made by the Boulting Brothers based on the play of the same name by Hugh Hastings. The film stars Gene Kelly and was one of three made by Kelly in Europe over an 18 month period in order to make use of frozen MGM funds...
(1954) - Josephine and MenJosephine and MenJosephine and Men is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Glynis Johns, Jack Buchanan, Donald Sinden and Peter Finch...
(1955) - Run for the SunRun for the SunRun for the Sun is a 1956 film released by United Artists, the third film to officially be based on Richard Connell's classic suspense story, "The Most Dangerous Game", after RKO's The Most Dangerous Game , which starred Joel McCrea and Fay Wray, and their remake, A Game of Death, which was...
(1956) - Happy is the BrideHappy is the BrideHappy is the Bride is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Roy Boulting and starring Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, Cecil Parker, Terry-Thomas and Joyce Grenfell...
(1958) - Brothers in LawBrothers in Law (film)Brothers in Law is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Jill Adams...
(1957) - Carlton-Browne of the FO (1959)
- SuspectSuspect (1960 film)Suspect is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Roy Boulting and John Boulting. It starred Tony Britton, Virginia Maskell, Ian Bannen, Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence...
(1960) - A French MistressA French MistressA French Mistress is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Cecil Parker, James Robertson Justice, Ian Bannen, Raymond Huntley, Irene Handl and Thorley Walters.-External links:* at Yahoo Canada movies...
(1960) - The Family WayThe Family WayThe Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed....
(1966) - Twisted NerveTwisted NerveTwisted Nerve is a 1968 British psychological thriller film about a disturbed young man, Martin, who pretends, under the name of Georgie, to be mentally retarded in order to be near Susan, a girl he has become infatuated with, killing those who get in his way.-Plot:The film opens with Martin...
(1968) - There's a Girl in My SoupThere's a Girl in My Soup There's a Girl in My Soup is a 1970 British comedy film, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. Sellers appears as Robert Danvers, a vain, womanizing and wealthy host of a high-profile cooking show...
(1970) - Mr. Forbush and the PenguinsMr. Forbush and the PenguinsMr. Forbush and the Penguins, also known as Cry of the Penguins, is a 1971 British film, directed by Arne Sucksdorff, Alfred Viola and Roy Boulting. It stars John Hurt, Hayley Mills, Dudley Sutton and Tony Britton.-Cast:...
(1971) - Soft Beds, Hard BattlesSoft Beds, Hard BattlesSoft Beds, Hard Battles is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting, and starring Peter Sellers....
(1973)