Celebrity Biographies
Bryan Forbes
The British Bryan Forbes, director responsible for films such as “The Stepford Women” and “When the Wind Whistles”, died on May 8, 2013, as a result of a long illness, at his residence in Surrey (England), as reported his family. He was 86 years old.
John Theobald Clark (destined to use the pseudonym Bryan Forbes) was born in Stratford (London) on July 22, 1926. He was going to be an actor, and in fact he studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He did not finish his studies because of guilt of World War II. After serving in the army he started his career playing supporting roles in titles like The Colditz Story, with John Mills . He decided to change his real name to avoid confusion with John Clark , a well-known teen actor at the time.
As success eluded him, he decided to start writing screenplays for films like The Cockleshell Heroes and The League of Gentlemen, where he also acted. Subsequently, he is responsible for scripts for films such as The Baby and the Battleship , Human Servitude and Target: Bank of England . In 1959 he formed with his close friend Richard Attenborough the production company Beaver Films. With this company they carried out Bitter Silence , by Guy Green , with a script by Forbes and in which Attenborough plays the protagonist, a factory worker who refuses to participate in a strike.
Starting in the 1960s, Bryan Forbes began his career as a director. He made his debut with When the Wind Whistles , conceived to show off the young Hayley Mills , daughter of the aforementioned John, who had excelled with Pollyanna . In this film, the actress played a young woman convinced that a fugitive she has found is Jesus Christ himself. He was enormously successful, which allowed him to continue directing titles such as The Box of Surprises , La Loca de Chaillot and The Seducers (1980) .
His best-known film is undoubtedly The Stepford Women , from 1975, an adaptation of the novel by Ira Levin , with a script by the renowned William Goldman . Follow the steps of a married couple who discover that their neighbors in the city of Stepford, all efficient housewives, are actually robots. In 2004, Frank Oz directed a rundown remake with Nicole Kidman .
Bare Face , a 1980 thriller with Roger Moore, was Bryan Forbes ‘ last filming work for the big screen. Later he collaborated again with Richard Attenborough, co-writingthe film Chaplin with William Goldman and William Boyd , a biopic of his compatriot, the illustrious actor and director, played by Robert Downey Jr.
Divorced from Irish actress Constance Smith , he joined fellow performer and author Nanette Newman , with whom he had two daughters. In 2004 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to the arts.