Bryan Forbes

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Forenames(s): Bryan
Family name: Forbes
Awards/Honours: CBE services to the arts 2004, Dilys Powell award for outstanding contribution to cinema 2006
Work area/Craft/Role: Director, Actor
Industry: Theatre, Film, TV
Websites: BFI Screenonline
Interview no: 331
Interview date(s): 9 August 1994
Interviewer(s): Roy Fowler
Production Media: audio
Duration (mins): 113

Bryan Forbes  made his film-acting debut in The Small Back Room(1948). He continued as a performer and screenwriter until 1961, when he made his directorial bow in Whistle Down The Wind(1961). He subsequently directed (and sometimes produced and/or wrote) such critical and audience favourites as The L Shaped Room (1962) ,Seance On A Wet Afternoon(1964), King Rat(1965), The Whisperers(1966), The Wrong Box (1966)  The Stepford Wives (1975) and Hopscotch (1980). From 1969 until 1971, he was chief of production/managing director of EMI Studios. Bryan  was married to actresses Constance Smith and Nanette Newman respectively, the latter appearing prominently in many of his films of the 1960s. He was the  father of Emma Forbes (actor & TV presenter) & Sarah Standing (journalist) He was named a Commander of the British Empire in 2004 for his services to the arts.

Obituary: The Guardian

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