Peter Cotes (19 March 1912 – 10 November 1998) was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager. Cotes was born as Sydney Boulting in Maidenhead, Berkshire. His brothers

John and Roy Boulting John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

became noted film makers. He began as an actor, before concentrating on theatre production. He was the original director of the world's longest-running production ''

The Mousetrap ''The Mousetrap'' is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. ''The Mousetrap'' opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-1 ...

'', still playing at the St Martins Theatre, London. He wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of Charlie Chaplin in 1951. He was twice married: Myfanwy Jones (marriage annulled) and Joan Miller (widowed 1988). He died from natural causes in

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

, Oxfordshire, aged 86.

Cinema and television credits

'' As actor'' * ''Pal O'Mine'' (1936) ... Archie * ''

Pastor Hall ''Pastor Hall'' is a 1940 British drama film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Wilfrid Lawson, Nova Pilbeam, Marius Goring, Seymour Hicks and Bernard Miles. The film is based on the play of the same title by German author Ernst Toller who ...

'' (1940) ... Erwin Kohn * ''

Fingers A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers (Pentadactyly). Chambers 1 ...

'' (1941) (uncredited) * ''

The Gentle Sex ''The Gentle Sex'' is a 1943 British black-and-white romantic comedy-drama war film, directed and narrated by Leslie Howard. It was produced by Concanen Productions, Two Cities Films, and Derrick de Marney. ''The Gentle Sex'' was Howard's l ...

'' (1943) (uncredited) ...Taffy * ''

Don't Take It to Heart ''Don't Take It to Heart'' is a 1944 British comedy film directed by Jeffrey Dell and starring Richard Greene, Alfred Drayton, Patricia Medina, Moore Marriott and Richard Bird. It was shot at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith with sets de ...

'' (1944) ...Patterson, Junior Counsel * ''

The Way to the Stars ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1945) ...Aircraftsman * ''

Beware of Pity ''Beware of Pity'' is a 1946 British romantic drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Lilli Palmer, Albert Lieven and Cedric Hardwicke. It is based on the novel of the same name by Stefan Zweig. A paraplegic young baroness mistakes co ...

'' (1946) ...Kosma * ''

The Upturned Glass ''The Upturned Glass'' is a 1947 British film noir psychological thriller directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring James Mason, Rosamund John and Pamela Kellino. The screenplay concerns a leading brain surgeon who murders a woman he belie ...

'' (1947) ... Questioner '' As writer '' * ''

London Playhouse ''London Playhouse'' is a UK television anthology series that aired from 1955–56. There were a total of twenty-five episodes. Among its writing credits include Tad Mosel, N. Richard Nash, Henry James, Robert Lowell, and Robert Alan Aurthur ...

'' (3 episodes, 1955–56) **''Lady Must Sell'' (1955) (adaptation) **''Summer in Normandy'' (1955) (production supervisor) **''The Guv'nor'' (1956) TV episode (production supervisor) * ITV Playhouse (1 episode 1956) **''Ashes in the Wind'' (1956) (adaptation) * ''

ITV Play of the Week ''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. Synopsis From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes ...

'' (1 episode 1965) **''Winter in Ischia'' (1965) (television adaptation) ''As producer'' * London Playhouse'' (5 episodes 1955–56) **''The Inward Eye'' (1955) (producer) **''Lady Must Sell'' (1955) (producer) **''Fighting Chance'' (1955) (producer) **''Adeline Girard'' (1955) (supervising producer) **''Yesterday's Mail'' (1956) (producer) * ITV Playhouse **''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1956) (producer) * '' BBC Sunday Night Theatre'' **''The Road'' (1953) (producer) **''What the Public Wants'' (1959) (producer) * ''

The World of Wooster ''The World of Wooster'' is a comedy television series, based on the Jeeves stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. The television series starred Ian Carmichael as English gentleman Bertie Wooster and Dennis Price as Bertie's valet Jeeves. The s ...

'' **''Jeeves and the Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustice'' (1966) (associate producer) **''Jeeves and the Indian Summer of an Uncle'' (1966) (associate producer) ''As director'' * BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1 episode 1953) **''The Road'' (1953) (uncredited) * '' The Right Person'' (1955) * London Playhouse (3 episodes 1955–56) **''Area Nine'' (1955) **''Lady Must Sell'' (1955) **''Yesterday's Mail'' (1956) * ''

Sword of Freedom ''Sword of Freedom'' was a 1958 drama adventure series for a family audience. Like several of its predecessors (most notably ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''), it was produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and fitted into the same sw ...

'' (1 episode 1957) **''Alessandro'' (1957) * '' The Young and the Guilty'' (1958) * ITV Television Playhouse (5 episodes 1956–58) **''Ashes in the Wind'' (1956) **''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1956) **''The Young and the Guilty'' (1956) **''Not Proven'' (1957) **''Look in Any Window'' (1958) *'' Shadow of the Vine'' (1962) * ITV Play of the Week (1 episode 1964) **''The Offence'' (1964) (TV episode) * ''Janie Jones'', at the New Theatre, London, (opened 15 July 1968)

Selected theatre credits

* ''The Mousetrap'' (1952, director of original London stage production)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotes, Peter 1912 births 1998 deaths English male film actors English television directors English theatre directors English television producers English theatre managers and producers English writers 20th-century English male actors Place of birth missing 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English businesspeople