Kevin Billington (12 June 1934 – 13 December 2021) was a British film director, who worked in the theatre, film and television from the 1960s.

Biography

The son of a factory worker,Fred Hauptfuhre

''People'', 13:12, 24 March 1980 and educated at

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928. ...

and Queens' College, Cambridge, early in his career he worked for the BBC as a radio producer in Leeds (1959–60) and then for television in Manchester (1960–61) before working on the early evening ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'' and on documentaries for the BBC and ATV until 1967. Billington's films include ''

The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer ''The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer'' is a 1970 British satirical film starring Peter Cook, and co-written by Cook, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, and Kevin Billington, who directed the film. The film was devised and produced by David Frost u ...

'' (1970), which stars

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

, while his theatre work includes several productions of plays by Harold Pinter, who was married to his wife's sister, Lady

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and p ...

. Billington's television work includes '' Henry VIII'' (1979) for the

BBC Television Shakespeare The ''BBC Television Shakespeare'' is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and broadcast by BBC Television. Transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985, it ...

project, one of the best received productions in the series. He also directed ''

The Good Soldier ''The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion'' is a 1915 novel by the British writer Ford Madox Ford. It is set just before World War I, and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, along with that of his two A ...

'' ( Granada 1981), based on the novel by

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

, and ''A Time to Dance'' (BBC 1992), adapted by Melvyn Bragg from his own work of fiction. He was married to Lady Rachel Billington; having met while they were both working in New York, they married the following year in 1967. The couple had four children and five grandchildren. Billington died from cancer on 13 December 2021, at the age of 87.

Filmography as director

* '' Whicker; Down Mexico Way'' (TV documentary, 1963) * '' Mary McCarthy's Paris'' (TV documentary, 1964) * '' A Few Castles in Spain'' (TV documentary, 1966) * ''

Interlude Interlude may refer to: *a short play or, in general, any representation between parts of a larger stage production *''Entr'acte'', a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production *a section in a movement of a musical piece, se ...

'' (1968) * ''

'' (1970) * '' The Light at the Edge of the World'' (1971) * '' And No One Could Save Her'' (TV, 1973) * '' Voices'' (1973) * '' Henry VIII'' (TV, 1979) * '' The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs'' (TV, 1981) * ''

'' (TV, 1981) * '' Outside Edge'' (TV, 1982) * '' Reflections'' (1984) * '' The Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest'' (TV, 1986) * '' Heartland'' (TV, 1989)https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097491/ * ''

A Time to Dance A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' (TV series, 1992)

References

External links

* * Entry in '' The International Who's Who'' (2004), p. 163 1934 births 2021 deaths Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge English film directors People educated at Bryanston School {{UK-film-director-stub