Lewis Gilbert

Gilbert directed Alfie (1966)[6] starring Michael Caine. Gilbert's wife Hylda discovered the play by Bill Naughton when she visited the hair salon and sat next to an actress who was in a production. Upon seeing the play, Hylda urged Gilbert to make it into a film. Gilbert used the technique of having the lead character speak directly to the viewer, a technique he later also used in Shirley Valentine (1989). Gilbert said Alfie was only made because the low budget was "the sort of money Paramount executives normally spend on cigar bills".[7] The film won the Jury Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture.[8] Gilbert was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director.

In 1967, Gilbert was chosen to direct Lionel Bart's musical of Oliver! but already contracted to another project had to pull out and recommended Carol Reed who took over.[2] "It was the lowest point in my life," said Gilbert. "I'd developed Oliver! with Lionel Bart. I had to do The Adventurers instead... While doing this film, I signed to do The Godfather. Because of their financial problems, Paramount could only find $2m to make it. I said it needed $7m". So instead Gilbert made Friends.[9]

Although known for character dramas, Gilbert directed three of the James Bond films. After some reluctance, he was persuaded by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli to direct You Only Live Twice (1967).[10][11] Gilbert returned to the series in the 1970s to make The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)[1] and Moonraker (1979).[12]

In the 1980s he returned to more small-scale dramas with film versions of Willy Russell's plays Educating Rita (1983)[13] and Shirley Valentine (1989).[14][15] Gilbert also directed the film Stepping Out (1991).[16][17]

Gilbert was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry.[18] In 2001, Gilbert was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute, the highest accolade in the British film industry.[2]

In June 2010 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. In it he said that his 1970 film The Adventurers was a disaster, and that he should never have made it. On working with Orson Welles on Ferry to Hong Kong, he said that it was: "dreadful, it was my nightmare film. It was a dreadful film, and everything was wrong with it; principally him [Welles]." He also said that his biggest mistake was failing to direct the film version of the musical Oliver!. Its composer Lionel Bart had assured Gilbert that nobody else would do the film, but Gilbert was contractually committed to Paramount to make a film (that he has since refused to name), which caused him to withdraw from the project.