Biography

The son of a Shipley chemist he was initially connected with the stage first with the post war Shipley Young Theatre then with the Bradford Civic Theatre where he came into contact with the Bradford born author J B Priestley who recognising his potential commissioned him to write a TV documentary. from where it was a short step to directing films. His close association with another novelist, John Osborne resulted in him directing Look Back in Ange in 1959 and The Entertainer in 1960 where the location scenes were shot in Morecambe where his parents had made their home in retirement. Following the great success of Tom Jones, particularly in America and his marriage to Vanessa Redgrave having ended he moved there and co wrote the film Dead Cert. The last film he made was The Hotel New Hampshire.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5

A graduate of Wadham College, Oxford he became a key figure in the rejuvenation of the British theatre in the 1960's. he was the co- founder with George Devine of the English Stage Company which brought new realism and productions to The Royal Court Theatre in London, such as Look Back in Anger in 1954 and The Entertainer in 1957 through which he became inextricably linked with the whole Angry Young Man phenomenon Tony who'd earlier directed *with Karel Reisz the documentary Momma Don't Allow (1958) an impression of a North London jazz club moved into feature films when he and Osborne founded the Woodffall production company, He continued periodically to work in the theatre but his subsequent energies were predominantly devoted to the cinema..For Woodfall he directed films of both the Osbourne plays in 1959 and 1960 as well as A Taste of Honey (1961) from Shelagh Delaney's play and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962 from an Alan Sillitoe story), These films, with their extensive use of locations often in the Midlands and North Yorkshire introduced a new and refreshing quality of realism to the British cinema

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5