Lewis Gilbert obit

Lewis Gilbert, Famed U.K. Director of ‘Alfie’ and 3 James Bond Films, Dies at 97

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker was behind more than 40 films. 

He was not on the list.

Lewis Gilbert, the Oscar-nominated British film director behind more than 40 films, including Alfie and three James Bond titles, has died. He was 97.

Born in London, Gilbert started out as a child actor in the 1920s and 1930s and had an uncredited role alongside Laurence Olivier in 1938’s The Divorce of Lady X. But in his late teens he decided to move toward directing, assisting on Alfred Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn 

After WWII — during which he worked for the Royal Air Force’s film unit on documentaries — he made a name for himself as a director on a number of successful war films, including Reach for the Sky, Carve Her Name With Pride and Sink the Bismark.

Arguably Gilbert’s most famous film came in 1966 with Alfie, starring a rising Michael Caine. The low-budget film about a young womanizer would go on to win the Jury Special Prize in Cannes, and receive five Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture.

Shortly after Alfie, Gilbert was persuaded by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli to direct the fifth Bond film, 1967’s You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery. It would be the first of three 007 titles he would helm, returning later for The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

The 1980s saw him return to smaller British drama, with 1983’s BAFTA-winning Educating Rita — reuniting him with Michael Caine and serving as a breakout film for Julie Walters — and 1989’s Shirley Valentine, both based on Willy Russell plays.

He was awarded the CBE in 1997 and in 2001 was made a fellow of the British Film Institute.

“The BFI salutes the most prolific of British filmmakers, awarded our highest accolade, a BFI Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to British film, everything from three Bond films — including the best, You Only Live Twice — and definitive stories of British bravery in WWII with Carve Her Name With Pride and Reach for the Sky, to three films that will forever be remembered for their working class heroes: Alfie, Rita and Shirley,” said BFI creative director Heather Stewart.

“In Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine he gave us funny and real character studies of women we normally never get a chance to see on the big screen.”

 

Filmography

 

Year     Film            Director            Producer            Screenwriter   Notes

1945    The Ten Year Plan            Yes                  Yes            documentary about the building of pre-fabricated houses

1946    Arctic Harvest            Yes                              documentary about cod-fishing in the Arctic and the production of cod liver oil

1947    World Economic Geography: Fishing Grounds of the World  Yes                              also known as Sailors Do Care, documentary about the British and international fishing industry

1948    The Little Ballerina            Yes                  Yes     

1949    Under One Roof            Yes                              UN-sponsored documentary about the students from different countries who attend Loughborough Engineering College

Marry Me!                               Yes     

1950    Once a Sinner   Yes                             

1951    There Is Another Sun            Yes                             

Scarlet Thread            Yes                             

1952            Emergency Call            Yes                  Yes     

Time Gentlemen, Please! Yes                             

1953    Cosh Boy      Yes                  Yes     

Johnny on the Run      Yes            Yes                 

Albert R.N.            Yes                             

1954    The Good Die Young  Yes                  Yes     

The Sea Shall Not Have Them    Yes                  Yes     

1955    Cast a Dark Shadow            Yes                             

1956    Reach for the Sky            Yes                  Yes     

1957    The Admirable Crichton            Yes                  Yes     

1958    Carve Her Name with Pride    Yes                  Yes     

A Cry from the Streets  Yes                             

1959    Ferry to Hong Kong            Yes                  Yes     

1960    Light Up the Sky!            Yes            Yes                 

Sink the Bismarck!            Yes                             

1961    The Greengage Summer            Yes                             

1962    H.M.S. Defiant Yes                             

1964    The 7th Dawn   Yes                             

1966    Alfie            Yes            Yes                  Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival

1967    You Only Live Twice   Yes                             

1970    The Adventurers            Yes            Yes            Yes     

1971    Friends            Yes            Yes            Yes     

1974    Paul and Michelle            Yes            Yes            Yes     

1975            Operation Daybreak            Yes                             

1976    Seven Nights in Japan            Yes            Yes                 

1977    The Spy Who Loved Me            Yes                             

1979            Moonraker     Yes                             

1983            Educating Rita  Yes            Yes                 

1985    Not Quite Paradise            Yes            Yes                 

1989    Shirley Valentine            Yes            Yes                 

1991            Stepping Out    Yes            Yes                 

1995            Haunted          Yes            Yes            Yes     

2002    Before You Go            Yes