Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
's
Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolific and pioneering television and film directors".
His work included 45 contributions to ''
Armchair Theatre'' (1956–1972) and he won two Best Drama Series
BAFTAs for ''
Boys from the Blackstuff'' (1982) and ''
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil'' (1986).
Early life
Saville was born Philip Saffer on 28 October 1927 at
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(in later life he gave his birth year as 1930, a date repeated in all his obituaries), son of Louis Saffer (who later assumed the anglicized form of the family name, "Saville", chosen by his father, Joseph Saffer, a master tailor), a travelling salesman for a clothing company, and Sadie Kathleen (known as "Kay"), née Tanenberg, supervisor of
Fortnum & Mason's women's fashion department at
Piccadilly.
He studied science at
London University and trained at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). His
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
in the
Royal Corps of Signals was ended by his discharge after he sustained a serious knee injury involving an armoured vehicle.
Career
From the 1950s, Saville worked in television as a director working on plays such as
Harold Pinter's ''
A Night Out'' (1960) for
ABC's ''
Armchair Theatre'' anthology series. He directed over 40 plays for ''Armchair Theatre'' and helped pioneer the innovative visual style it became known for, including rapid and intricate camera movements during the often live productions.
The critic
John Russell Taylor, however, wrote that Saville had submerged the romance "Duel for Love" (''Armchair Theatre'', 1961) "under intricate camerawork of exquisite beauty and complete irrelevance".
Saville also directed ''
Madhouse on Castle Street
''Madhouse on Castle Street'' is a British television play, broadcast by BBC Television on the evening of 13 January 1963, as part of the '' Sunday Night Play'' strand. It was written by Evan Jones and directed by Philip Saville. The production ...
'' (1963) for the BBC, an example "of his interest in psychological states and subjective viewpoints", according to Oliver Wake.
The (now lost) production was the first acting appearance of the folk singer
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, whom Saville had flown over specifically to take part in the play. Saville's production of ''
Hamlet at Elsinore
''Hamlet at Elsinore'' is a 1964 television version of the c. 1600 play by William Shakespeare. Produced by the BBC in association with Danish Radio, it was shown in the U.S. on NET. Winning wide acclaim both for its performances and for being ...
'' (1964) for the BBC pioneered the use of videotape for location recording.
An anonymous reviewer in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' wrote that Saville "while creating handsome pictures, did not allow the setting to distract him from the business of the play". He also worked on an episode of ''
Out of the Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science fi ...
'', a version of the
E.M. Forster short story "The Machine Stops" (1966) in this period.
This won the main prize at the 1967 Trieste international science fiction film festival.
Later career
Saville's significant later work includes ''
Boys from the Blackstuff'' (1982) and ''
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil'' (1986), which both won BAFTAs for Best Drama Series.
For the cinema, Saville directed ''
The Fruit Machine'' (1988, released as ''Wonderland'' in the US), ''
Metroland'' (1997) and ''
The Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "si ...
'' (2003).
He also directed a
masterclass studio in London specialising in dramatic improvisation. Saville's documentary on Harold Pinter ''Pinter's Progress'' (2009) for
Sundance
A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony.
Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town
;United States
* Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pla ...
international television channels and UK's Sky Arts features numerous interviews with associates of the Nobel Prize–winning playwright.
Personal life
Saville was married to the actress, film and theatre director
Jane Arden from 1947; the couple had two sons, Sebastian and Dominic, but separated in the mid-1960s, although they did not divorce. Arden died in 1982. He also had a daughter, Elizabeth Saville from another relationship.
In the 1960s, Saville, while married, had an affair with the artist
Pauline Boty, whom he had met towards the end of her student days and who had worked for him.
Their affair is said to have inspired the film ''
Darling''.
[ ] He also had an eight-year relationship with actress
Diana Rigg in the same period.
From the 1960s onward, he lived in the former home of the artist
Augustus John in St John's Wood, London.
Philip Saville married his second wife, Nina Francis (née Zuckerman) in 1987, and they had a son, Waldo Saville.
His wife Nina was at his bedside when he died.
Filmography
Actor
* 1948 ''
A Piece of Cake''
* 1948 ''
To the Public Danger
''To the Public Danger'' is a 1948 British drama short film directed by Terence Fisher and produced by John Croydon. It stars Dermot Walsh, Susan Shaw, Barry Letts, and Frederick Piper.
The film was made at Highbury Studios as a second featu ...
''
* 1948 ''
Penny and the Pownall Case
''Penny and the Pownall Case'' is a 1948 British second feature mystery film, directed by Slim Hand and starring Ralph Michael, Peggy Evans, Diana Dors and Christopher Lee.
It was the first featured role for Diana Dors, the second female lead ...
'' (actor: Police Car Driver)
* 1953 ''
Murder at 3am
''Murder at 3 a.m.'' is a 1953 British crime film directed by Francis Searle and starring Dennis Price, Peggy Evans and Rex Garner. The screenplay of this second feature involves a Scotland Yard detective who investigates a series of attacks o ...
'' (actor: Edward/Jim King)
* 1953 ''
The Straw Man'' (actor: Link Hunter)
* 1954 ''
Bang! You're Dead
''Bang! You're Dead'' is a 1954 British psychological drama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Jack Warner, Anthony Richmond, Veronica Hurst, Derek Farr and Sean Barrett. The film takes as its subject the accidental killing of a ma ...
'' (actor: Ben Jones)
* 1954 ''The Night of the Full Moon'' (actor: Dale Merritt)
* 1955 ''
Contraband Spain'' (actor: Martin Scott)
* 1957 ''
The Great Van Robbery
''The Great Van Robbery'' is a low budget 1959 British crime film.
Plot
Scotland Yard teams up with Interpol to discover the origins of stolen money in a private bank account in Rio de Janeiro. Assigning their best detective Caesar Smith to th ...
'' (actor: Carter)
* 1957 ''
The Betrayal
"The Betrayal" is the 164th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the eighth episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on November 20, 1997. In this episode, Jerry betrays George by having sex with his girlfriend Nina, right befo ...
'' (actor: Bartel)
* 1958 ''
On the Run
On the Run may refer to:
* "On the run", a phrase often used to describe a fugitive, a person fleeing custody
Literature
* ''On the Run'' (novel), by Nina Bawden
* On the Run (novel series), by Gordon Korman
* ''On the Run'', a novel in the S ...
'' (actor: Driscol)
* 1958 ''
Three Crooked Men'' (actor: Seppy)
* 1959 ''
An Honourable Murder
''An Honourable Murder'' is a 1960 British drama film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Norman Wooland, Margaretta Scott and Lisa Daniely. It is a modern reworking of William Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'' set in the corporate world of ...
'' (actor: Mark Anthony)
Director
* 1960 ''
Armchair Theatre: A Night Out'' (television)
* 1962 ''
Armchair Theatre: Afternoon of a Nymph'' (television)
* 1964 ''
Hamlet at Elsinore
''Hamlet at Elsinore'' is a 1964 television version of the c. 1600 play by William Shakespeare. Produced by the BBC in association with Danish Radio, it was shown in the U.S. on NET. Winning wide acclaim both for its performances and for being ...
'' (television), (director)
* 1964 ''
The Wednesday Play: In Camera'' (television), (director/adaptation) — based on
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
's ''
No Exit
''No Exit'' (french: Huis clos, links=no, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting ...
''
* 1966 ''Stop the World, I Want to Get Off'' (director) — based on the musical ''
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off''
* 1968 ''
Oedipus the King
''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' ( grc, Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient G ...
'' (director/screenwriter)
* 1969 ''
The Best House in London'', (director)
* 1971 ''
Secrets'' (director/screenwriter)
* 1977 ''
Count Dracula'' (director)
* 1983 ''
Those Glory Glory Days
''Those Glory Glory Days'' is a 1983 British made-for-television film about football directed by Philip Saville and starring Zoë Nathenson, Sara Sugarman and Cathy Murphy. The screenplay was written by the sports journalist Julie Welch. The f ...
'' (director)
* 1985 ''
Shadey
''Shadey'' is a 1985 British comedy film directed by Philip Saville and starring Antony Sher, Billie Whitelaw and Patrick Macnee. The screenplay concerns a man with clairvoyant qualities who is recruited by British intelligence for a secret missi ...
'' (director)
* 1986 ''
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil'' (director)
* 1987 ''
Mandela'' (director)
* 1988 ''
The Fruit Machine'' (director, US: ''Wonderland'')
* 1989 ''Fellow Traveler'' (director)
* 1990 ''
Max and Helen'' (director)
* 1990 ''
Crash: The Mystery of Flight 1501'' (director)
* 1991 ''Angels'' (director)
* 1991 ''The Cloning of Joanna May'' (director) — based on
Fay Weldon's ''
The Cloning of Joanna May''
* 1993 ''
Family Pictures'' (director)
* 1995 ''The Buccaneers'' (director, TV miniseries/serial) — based on
Edith Wharton's ''
The Buccaneers''
* 1997 ''
Metroland'' (director)
* 1998 ''Little White Lies'' (director)
* 2000 ''My Uncle Silas'' (director)
* 2002 ''The Biographer: The Secret Life of Princess Di'' (director)
* 2003 ''
Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale'' (director, film made for TV)
* 2003 ''
The Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "si ...
'' (director)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saville, Philip
1927 births
2016 deaths
British film directors
British male screenwriters
British television directors
Male actors from London
Royal Corps of Signals soldiers
Writers from London
20th-century British Army personnel