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{{Short description|British film director, producer and screenwriter (1908–1994)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox person
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| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1908|02|15}}
| birth_place = [[Stockport]], [[Cheshire]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1994|05|31|1908|02|15}}
| death_place = [[Wiltshire]], England
| occupation = {{Flatlist|
* Film director
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* writer
}}
| spouse = Beryl Brewer (1910–1981)
| children = 2 | relatives = [[Amanda Eliasch]] (granddaughter)
}}
'''Sidney Gilliat''' (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English [[film director]], [[film producer|producer]] and [[screenwriter|writer]].
He wrote the [[libretto]] for [[Malcolm Williamson]]'s opera ''[[Our Man in Havana (opera)|Our Man in Havana]]'', based on [[Our Man in Havana|the novel]] by [[Graham Greene]]. He had also worked on [[Our Man in Havana (film)|the film]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
==Early
Gilliat was born in the district of [[Edgeley]] in [[Stockport]], [[Cheshire]],<ref name="Adair">Adair, Gilbert (2 June 1994). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-sidney-gilliat-1419865.html "Obituary: Sidney Gilliat"]. ''[[The Independent]]''. Retrieved 2 April 2024.</ref> and was the son of George Gilliat, the editor of the ''London Evening Standard'' from 1928 to 1933. He was brought up in [[New Malden]] and educated at [[London University]], studying English and History.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=58882|title=Gilliat, Sidney (1908–1994)}}</ref> He worked for a period as a journalist at the ''[[Evening Standard]]'', later saying he was fired after refusing to interview a grieving widow who was too upset to be spoken to.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=1 June 1994|title=Sidney Gilliat obituary|work=[[The Times]]|issue=64969}}</ref>
The film critic of the Evening Standard, [[Walter Mycroft]], went to work at Elstree Studios as a scenario editor, and hired Gilliat to write intertitles for silent films. He was fired after he was overheard criticising a producer's work.<ref name="guardian"/>
===Walter Forde===▼
Gilliat's early screen credits were on films directed by [[Walter Forde]] including ''[[Red Pearls]]'' (1930), ''[[Lord Richard in the Pantry]]'' (1930), ''[[Bed and Breakfast (1930 film)|Bed and Breakfast]]'' (1930), ''[[You'd Be Surprised!]]'' (1930), ''[[The Ghost Train (1931 film)|The Ghost Train]]'' (1931), ''[[The Ringer (1931 film)|The Ringer]]'' (1931) and ''[[Third Time Lucky (1931 film)|Third Time Lucky]]'' (1931).▼
▲===Walter Forde===
▲Gilliat's early screen credits were on films directed by [[Walter Forde]] including ''[[Red Pearls]]'' (1930), ''[[Lord Richard in the Pantry]]'' (1930), ''[[Bed and Breakfast (1930 film)|Bed and Breakfast]]'' (1930), ''[[You'd Be Surprised!]]'' (1930), ''[[The Ghost Train (1931 film)|The Ghost Train]]'' (1931), ''[[The Ringer (1931 film)|The Ringer]]'' (1931) and ''[[Third Time Lucky (1931 film)|Third Time Lucky]]'' (1931). He also wrote ''[[The Happy Ending (1931 film)|The Happy Ending]]'' (1931) and ''[[A Gentleman of Paris (1931 film)|A Gentleman of Paris]]'' (1931).
Gillat's first major credit as a screenwriter was ''[[Rome Express]]'' (1932) directed by Forde. He and [[Frank Launder]] worked on the script for ''[[Facing the Music (1933 film)|Facing the Music]]'' (1933) but they did not actually work together.
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===Frank Launder===
Gilliat's first movie with Launder
Without Launder he did ''[[Take My Tip]]'' (1937) for Hulbert; ''[[A Yank at Oxford]]'' (1938) for MGM; ''[[Strange Boarders]]'' (1938); and ''[[The Gaunt Stranger]]'' (1938) with [[Sonnie Hale]]. Gilliat and Launder collaborated on ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'' (1938).
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==Producers/directors==
Launder and
According to an obituary of Gilliat:
<blockquote>Gilliat and Launder made an unlikely pair, both physically and temperamentally Launder spare, dark and easily excited, Gilliat stockier and with the sort of down-to-earth, practical nature which provided a solid basis for their working partnership. Gilliat, in fact, always deprecated his own comic talents, claiming that it was Launder who wrote all the jokes, though this was a huge overstatement. But certainly they did their best work together. Their speciality was the thriller-comedy. As writers, their scripts were noted for clever plotting and shrewd observation of the foibles of the English character. As directors, Gilliat tended to favour quieter satire, where Launder excelled in broader farce. But it was difficult generally to know where the contribution of one ended and the other began, even though officially they liked to take it in turn to act on each film as scriptwriter and director.<ref name="times">Sidney Gilliat;Obituary The Times; London (UK) [London (UK)]01 June 1994.
Gilliat helped write ''[[Two Thousand Women]]'' (1944) which Launder directed. Without Launder, Gilliat wrote and directed ''[[Waterloo Road (film)|Waterloo Road]]'' (1945) with John Mills and Stewart Granger. But normally both men would produce and write the script and take turns directing.
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By A.H. WEILER. New York Times 23 July 1950: X5.</ref>
Instead Gilliat directed ''[[The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan]]'' (1953), then Launder did ''[[The Belles of St. Trinian's]]'' (1954). The film starred George Cole who later said working for the team meant "good scripts but terrible money. If Alastair was in the film it was even worse because he got most of it. But they were wonderful people to work with."<ref
Gilliat did ''[[The Constant Husband]]'' (1955) with Rex Harrison followed by Launder's ''[[Geordie (film)|Geordie]]'' (1955).
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They wrote and produced, but did not direct ''[[The Green Man (film)|The Green Man]]'' (1956) and produced ''[[The Smallest Show on Earth]]'' (1957). Gilliat directed ''[[Fortune Is a Woman]]'' (1957), a thriller with [[Jack Hawkins]] while Launder did ''[[Blue Murder at St Trinian's]]'' (1957) and ''[[The Bridal Path (film)|The Bridal Path]]'' (1959).
===British Lion===
In 1958, they joined the board of British Lion.<ref name="guardian">British Lion keepers Richmond, Theo; GILLIAT, SYDNEY; Launder, Frank. The Guardian (1959-2003); London (UK) [London (UK)] 28 Sep 1970: 8.</ref> Gilliat directed ''[[Left Right and Centre]]'' (1959), a political satire after which Launder did ''[[The Pure Hell of St Trinian's]]'' (1960). Gilliat had a big hit with ''[[Only Two Can Play]]'' (1962), which he directed. He produced ''[[Joey Boy (film)|Joey Boy]]'' (1965), and then both men directed ''[[The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery]]'' (1966).
They worked on a script, ''Sex and the British'', for two years but had to abandon it when British divorce laws made the concept obsolete.<ref name="guardian"/> Instead they made ''[[Endless Night (1972 film)|Endless Night]]'' (1972) which Gilliat directed. He and Launder produced ''[[Ooh… You Are Awful]]'' (1972).
==Personal life==
Gilliat married Beryl Brewer in
Sidney Gilliat died in at his home in [[Wiltshire]], [[England]] on 31 May 1994 aged 86.<ref name="ODNB"/> His brother was the producer [[Leslie Gilliat]] who worked with him. His obituary in ''[[The Times]]'' described his and Frank Launder's collaboration as 'one of the most sparkling writing, directing and producing partnerships in postwar British cinema.'<ref name=":0" />
==Appraisal==
According to one obituary "if wanted to give new generations, or foreigners, some idea of the way the British were in the thirties and forties, one could do no better than show them the films with which Sidney Gilliat was connected... [He] had unfailing good humour, and an unerring feeling for time, place and character. These were most noticeable in the comedy-thrillers, in which the realistic treatment disguised far-fetched plots. <ref>Obituary: Sidney Gilliat
Bergan, Ronald. The Guardian 1 June 1994.</ref>
Another one said "Of all the tireless toilers in the ungrateful vineyards of British cinema comedy (Roy and John Boulting, Ralph and Gerald Thomas, Muriel and Sydney Box), Launder and Gilliat were least in thrall to the insatiable jokiness of the breadwinning professional humorist, and their long collaboration has left us with a memory of unfailing good-humour and an occasional brainy prankishness. "<ref name="Adair"/>
== Selected films ==
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* ''[[State Secret (1950 film)|State Secret]]'' (1950) (director)
* ''[[The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (film)|The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan]]'' (1953) (director/producer/writer)
* ''[[The Belles of St. Trinian's]]'' (1954) (producer)
* ''[[The Constant Husband]]'' (1955) (director/producer/co-writer)
* ''[[Geordie (film)|Geordie]]'' (1955) (producer)
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[[Category:English film directors]]
[[Category:English film producers]]
[[Category:English screenwriters]]▼
[[Category:English male screenwriters]]
[[Category:People from Stockport]]
[[Category:English opera librettists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century
[[Category:
[[Category:British film studio executives]]
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