Bryan Forbes (born John Theobald Clark on July 22 1926 in London) is a British film director, actor and writer.

Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts but did not complete his studies. After military service from 1945 to 1948, he played numerous supporting roles in British films as well as appearing on the stage. He began also to write for the screen, receiving his first full credit for The Cockleshell Heroes in 1955. Another noted screenplay of his from this period was for The League of Gentlemen in 1959 in which he also acted.

He formed a production company with his frequent collaborator Richard Attenborough in 1959, which went on to make The Angry Silence in 1960, a screenplay by Forbes in which Attenborough took the lead role, and both shared production responsibilities. He followed this up in 1961 with his directorial debut Whistle Down the Wind, again produced by Attenborough. He wrote, produced and directed further movies in Britain throughout the 1960s as well as travelling to Hollywood to make King Rat in 1965.

In 1969 he was appointed chief of production and managing director of the film studio Associated British (EMI), but the experience was not a success and he resigned the post in 1971. After this experience his film output reduced, although he did enjoy success as the director of The Stepford Wives, The Slipper and the Rose and International Velvet (1978). He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1975, though he is currently in remission, and since the early 1970s he has divided his energies between cinema, television, theatre and writing a number of successful novels and two volumes of autobiography.

Forbes has been married to his second wife, the actress Nanette Newman , since 1954, and has often directed her. In 2004, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the arts and he currently serves as president of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain

External references

• BFI Screenonline biography
• Bryan Forbes at hollywood.com
• IMDb entry
• Bibliography of Forbes' fiction and non-fiction
• BBC News report on awarding of CBE