 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Peter Glenville" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Peter Glenville | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peter Patrick Brabazon Browne (1913-10-28)28 October 1913 |
| Died | 3 June 1996(1996-06-03) (aged 82) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Occupations |
|
| Parent(s) | Shaun Glenville (father) Dorothy Ward (mother) |
| Website | peterglenville |
Peter Glenville (bornPeter Patrick Brabazon Browne; 28 October 1913 – 3 June 1996) was anEnglish theatre and film director, and actor. He was a prominent director of stage plays on theWest End andBroadway in the 1950s. He was nominated for fourTony Awards for his American plays.[1]
In the following decade, he transitioned to become a film director. His first film,The Prisoner (1955), was nominated forBest Film andBest British Film at the9th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
Glenville was nominated for a Best DirectorOscar and aGolden Globe for the 1964film adaptation of theJean Anouilh playBecket. He had previously directed the stage version. Two of his other films,Summer and Smoke (1961) andTerm of Trial (1962), were both nominated for theVenice Film Festival'sGolden Lion. In 2013 criticRupert Christiansen posthumously described him as a "forgotten giant of mid-20th-century directing."[2]
Born inHampstead,London, into a theatrical family, Glenville was the son ofShaun Glenville (born John Browne, 1884–1968), a comedian born inIreland, andDorothy Ward, both of whom werepantomime performers.[3][4] The family were devoutIrish Catholics, and Glenville maintained this religion for his entire life.[5]
He attendedStonyhurst College and studied law atChrist Church, Oxford. He was president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, and performed in many roles for them.[4]
Glenville performed as an actor in the UK, where he also started directing. Between 1934 and 1947, he appeared in various leading roles "ranging from Tony Pirelli in Edgar Wallace's gangster dramaOn the Spot and Stephen Cass in Mary Hayley Bell's horror thrillerDuet for Two Hands to Romeo, Prince Hal and an intense Hamlet in a production which he also directed for the Old Vic company in Liverpool..."[4]
Glenville's directorial debut onBroadway wasTerence Rattigan'sThe Browning Version in 1949, which starredMaurice Evans.[6][7]
Other notable productions which followed includedThe Innocents (1950), the stage adaptation ofHenry James'sThe Turn of the Screw;Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet, which starredDouglass Watson andJack Hawkins, and marked the Broadway debut ofOlivia de Havilland (1951);[8] Rattigan'sSeparate Tables (1954), andGeorges Feydeau'sHotel Paradiso (1957).[9][10]
Glenville directed theBridget Boland playThe Prisoner at the Lyceum Theatre,Edinburgh in March 1954, and then at the Globe Theatre in London, starringAlec Guinness.[11] Glenville made his film debut as director with the 1955 adaptation ofThe Prisoner. Alec Guinness repeated his starring role in the film.[12]
In the 1960s, Glenville and his companion "Bill" Smith moved from London to New York and continued to work in the theatre and in films.[citation needed] From that period, he directed the musicalTake Me Along (1959–60), based onEugene O'Neill's playAh, Wilderness!, withJackie Gleason,Walter Pidgeon,Robert Morse,Una Merkel andEileen Herlie.[13] In 1960, Glenville also directedBarbara Bel Geddes andHenry Fonda on Broadway inSilent Night, Lonely Night by Robert Anderson.[14]
In 1961, he directedJean Anouilh's playBecket, which starredLaurence Olivier asThomas Becket andAnthony Quinn asHenry II. An erroneous story arose in later years that during the run, Quinn and Olivier switched roles and Quinn played Becket to Olivier's King.[citation needed] CriticHoward Taubman, in his bookThe Making of the American Theatre, supports this story, as does a biographer of Laurence Olivier.
But Quinn left the production for a film, never having played Becket. Glenville suggested a road tour with Olivier playing Henry II. Olivier happily acceded andArthur Kennedy took on the role of Becket for the tour and brief return to Broadway.[15][16]
On Broadway, in 1962–63, Glenville directed Quinn andMargaret Leighton inTchin-Tchin. This was followed by the musicalTovarich (1963) withVivien Leigh andJean-Pierre Aumont. ForDylan, based on the life ofDylan Thomas (1964), Glenville worked again with his frequent collaborator, SirAlec Guinness. He also directedEdward Albee's adaptation ofGiles Cooper's playEverything in the Garden (1967);John Osborne'sA Patriot for Me (1969) withMaximilian Schell,Salome Jens andTommy Lee Jones in his Broadway debut; and Tennessee Williams'Out Cry (1973).[17]
He directed the filmsMe and the Colonel (1958) withDanny Kaye,Summer and Smoke (1961) withGeraldine Page andLaurence Harvey,Term of Trial (1962) with Laurence Olivier,Simone Signoret andSarah Miles;Becket (1964) withRichard Burton andPeter O'Toole;Hotel Paradiso (1966)[10] with Guinness andGina Lollobrigida; andThe Comedians (1967) withElizabeth Taylor, Burton, Guinness, andPeter Ustinov.[18]
In 1970, Glenville directed another newTerence Rattigan play in the West End,A Bequest to the Nation.[19] In 1971 he began work on the film project ofMan of La Mancha, but when he failed to agree withUnited Artists on the production, he bowed out.
In 1973 he directed the original production ofTennessee Williams's playOut Cry on Broadway.[20] After this he retired and eventually moved toSan Miguel de Allende, northernMexico.[citation needed]
Glenville was nominated for fourTony Awards,[17] twoGolden Globe Awards (Becket andMe and the Colonel), oneAcademy Award (Becket) and oneGolden Lion at theVenice Film Festival forTerm of Trial.[21][citation needed]
Glenville was for most of his life acloseted homosexual.[5] Glenville met Hardy William Smith (1916–2001) after the end of World War II. Smith, a United States Navy veteran, wanted a career in the theater in the UK. According to his biography at the University of Texas (where his papers are kept), "Glenville and Smith became professional and life partners, with Smith producing and Glenville directing plays for the London stage."[22]
Politically, Glenville identified as aconservative. HistorianGil Troy characterized him as "individualist," "anti-communist," and "anti-totalitarian".[5]Glenville said that he had retired from directing due to a perceived left-wing turn in art and culture, as well as an embrace ofMethod acting techniques. He disliked the latter and found Method actors difficult to direct.[5]
He died inNew York City on 3 June 1996, aged 82, from aheart attack.[23][4]
