George Devine
Encyclopedia
George Alexander Cassady Devine CBE
(20 November 1910 - 20 January 1966) was an extremely influential theatrical manager, director, teacher and actor in London from the late 1940s until his death. He also worked in the media
of TV and film.
and half Greek. His mother, Ruth Eleanor Cassady, was Irish Canadian.
(OUDS). In that year he invited John Gielgud
to guest-direct a production of Romeo and Juliet
which was to star Peggy Ashcroft
and Edith Evans
playing as Juliet and Nurse. As part of the arrangement Gielgud insisted on having the costumes designed by Motley
, a newly-formed London design team consisting of Sophie Harris
, her sister Margaret (known as "Percy"), and Liz Montgomery. The production was a great success, and so was the meeting between George and Sophie Harris
. They began living together almost immediately, and married on 27 October 1939 despite an age gap of ten years in George's favour. They returned from Oxford as a couple to London, where George became an actor, and performed in a number of Gielgud's productions. He also worked for the Motleys as their business manager. In 1936 he collaborated with the distinguished French director Michel Saint-Denis
and Glen Byam Shaw
in founding and running an acting and directing school that they called "London Theatre Studio". (Jocelyn Herbert
, who would later play a large part in Devine's life, was a student for a while). In 1939, he directed his first production on the London stage, an adaptation of Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
, starring Alec Guinness
, and took the part of Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed for television by Michel Saint-Denis
.
, stationed first in India
and then Burma.
and Michel Saint-Denis
, setting up and running the Old Vic
Theatre School and the Young Vic Company in 1946. In 1950 severe disagreements with the Old Vic Board of Governors led all three of them to resign, along with the entire faculty. The Young Vic company ceased to exist until resurrected on new premises 19 years later by director Frank Dunlop
.
By this time a still-young George Devine was an acknowledged expert in stagecraft, in demand at England's elite theatres. He directed opera at Sadler's Wells Theatre
and spent the summers both directing and acting at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
in Stratford-upon-Avon
; he also directed at the Bristol Old Vic
, for instance in a 1952 production of Ben Jonson
's Volpone
. In this period he also appeared in several films.
was a 'hot' young director fresh from Oxford University when he cast Devine in a TV adaptation of a short story by Anton Chekhov
, "Curtain Down". Richardson and Devine found they had virtually identical ideas about English theatre and how it could be revived. Eventually Richardson became a lodger in George and Sophie Devine's house on the Thames Embankment
at Hammersmith
. So, too, did the American sociologist George Goetschius. The three men planned what was to become the English Stage Company together.
The age difference between him and Sophie finally poisoned the marriage. In the early 1950s Harriet discovered love letters written to George over a long period of time by his neighbour and ex-student Jocelyn Herbert
, who was married to Anthony Lousada at the time. Sophie may already have known, but in any case she could no longer pretend ignorance and bliss. A few years after the English Stage Company came into being, George and Jocelyn moved to Rossetti Studios in Flood Street together, abandoning their families. Jocelyn became resident stage designer, her first design being a production of Ionesco
's The Chairs featuring Devine and Joan Plowright
.
They never married, but on his death Devine willed his entire estate to Jocelyn.
The George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright is named in his honor.
calling for scripts, and received 750 submissions. The company took over the Royal Court Theatre
in Sloane Square
and opened its first production, Angus Wilson
's 'The Mulberry Bush'.
Unfortunately, the 750 scripts were largely dross. The first three productions at The Court were dismal failures, and the future of the English Stage Company was very much in the balance, when along came Look Back in Anger
written by John Osborne
. "This might have something", said Devine to Richardson when he'd finished reading it through. Indeed it did have something. Thanks largely to glowing reviews from the Sunday critics Kenneth Tynan
and Harold Hobson
, Look Back was the revolution they'd been looking for.
The English Stage Company became not just a writer's theatre but a director's theatre too. Arnold Wesker
, Ann Jellicoe
, Donald Howarth
, Keith Johnstone
, and Alan Sillitoe
were some of the writers nurtured in Sloane Square. Anthony Page
, Edward Bond
, Lindsay Anderson
, William Gaskill
, Peter Gill
and John Dexter
some of the now-famous directors.
Several more of John Osborne's plays were staged at the Royal Court—indeed, George Devine was appearing in one, the extravagant transvestite drama A Patriot for Me, when he suffered the heart attack that led quite quickly to his death at the age of 56.
He had begun to draft an autobiography, and it included these words:
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(20 November 1910 - 20 January 1966) was an extremely influential theatrical manager, director, teacher and actor in London from the late 1940s until his death. He also worked in the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
of TV and film.
Biography
Devine was born in London. His father, Georgios Devine, was half IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and half Greek. His mother, Ruth Eleanor Cassady, was Irish Canadian.
Early theatrical experience
While reading history at Oxford University, Devine became interested in theatre, and in 1932 was made president of the Oxford University Dramatic SocietyOxford University Dramatic Society
The Oxford University Dramatic Society is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England...
(OUDS). In that year he invited John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
to guest-direct a production of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
which was to star Peggy Ashcroft
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
and Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
playing as Juliet and Nurse. As part of the arrangement Gielgud insisted on having the costumes designed by Motley
Motley Theatre Design Group
Motley was the name of the theatre design firm made up of three English designers, sisters Margaret Harris and Sophie Harris , and Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot . The name derives from the word 'Motley' as used by Shakespeare...
, a newly-formed London design team consisting of Sophie Harris
Sophie Harris
Audrey Sophia “Sophie” Harris was an English award winning theatre and opera costume and scenic designer.-Biography:...
, her sister Margaret (known as "Percy"), and Liz Montgomery. The production was a great success, and so was the meeting between George and Sophie Harris
Sophie Harris
Audrey Sophia “Sophie” Harris was an English award winning theatre and opera costume and scenic designer.-Biography:...
. They began living together almost immediately, and married on 27 October 1939 despite an age gap of ten years in George's favour. They returned from Oxford as a couple to London, where George became an actor, and performed in a number of Gielgud's productions. He also worked for the Motleys as their business manager. In 1936 he collaborated with the distinguished French director Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis , dit Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theater director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European theater from the 1930s on.Michel Saint-Denis was born in Beauvais, France, the nephew of Jacques Copeau, who...
and Glen Byam Shaw
Glen Byam Shaw
Glen Byam Shaw was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later....
in founding and running an acting and directing school that they called "London Theatre Studio". (Jocelyn Herbert
Jocelyn Herbert
Jocelyn Herbert RDI was a highly influential British stage designer.-Early life:Born in London, she was the second of the four children of the playwright, novelist, humorist and parliamentarian A. P. Herbert . Through him she had contact with theatre people, artists and writers...
, who would later play a large part in Devine's life, was a student for a while). In 1939, he directed his first production on the London stage, an adaptation of Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, starring Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
, and took the part of Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed for television by Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis , dit Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theater director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European theater from the 1930s on.Michel Saint-Denis was born in Beauvais, France, the nephew of Jacques Copeau, who...
.
Wartime
George and Sophie had one daughter, Harriet, born 18 September 1942, but George did not set eyes on her until after long military service in the Royal ArtilleryRoyal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, stationed first in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and then Burma.
Old Vic, Sadlers Wells, Stratford
Returning to the London theatre scene, Devine again collaborated with Glen Byam ShawGlen Byam Shaw
Glen Byam Shaw was an English actor and theatre director, known for his dramatic productions in the 1950s and his operatic productions in the 1960s and later....
and Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis
Michel Saint-Denis , dit Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theater director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European theater from the 1930s on.Michel Saint-Denis was born in Beauvais, France, the nephew of Jacques Copeau, who...
, setting up and running the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
Theatre School and the Young Vic Company in 1946. In 1950 severe disagreements with the Old Vic Board of Governors led all three of them to resign, along with the entire faculty. The Young Vic company ceased to exist until resurrected on new premises 19 years later by director Frank Dunlop
Frank Dunlop
Frank Dunlop is an Irish lobbyist and former broadcast journalist with Raidió Teilifís Éireann . Originally from County Kilkenny, he is a key witness to the Mahon Tribunal which is investigating improper payments by property developers to Irish politicians and will be a key witness in pending...
.
By this time a still-young George Devine was an acknowledged expert in stagecraft, in demand at England's elite theatres. He directed opera at Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
and spent the summers both directing and acting at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the British playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace - in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon...
in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
; he also directed at the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
, for instance in a 1952 production of Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
's Volpone
Volpone
Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable...
. In this period he also appeared in several films.
Collaboration with Tony Richardson
Tony RichardsonTony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
was a 'hot' young director fresh from Oxford University when he cast Devine in a TV adaptation of a short story by Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, "Curtain Down". Richardson and Devine found they had virtually identical ideas about English theatre and how it could be revived. Eventually Richardson became a lodger in George and Sophie Devine's house on the Thames Embankment
Thames Embankment
The Thames Embankment is a major feat of 19th century civil engineering designed to reclaim marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria and Chelsea Embankment....
at Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
. So, too, did the American sociologist George Goetschius. The three men planned what was to become the English Stage Company together.
Personal life
White-haired, with a twinkle in his eye and a pipe ever-present between his teeth, the word avuncular might have been invented to describe Devine. But his outward unflappability belied the real man inside. In reality he was a driven workaholic who suffered at least two documented nervous breakdowns, brought on by overwork. George was a noted lover of France and the French way of life. He spoke the language fluently and delighted in being taken as French when travelling there, in beret and all.The age difference between him and Sophie finally poisoned the marriage. In the early 1950s Harriet discovered love letters written to George over a long period of time by his neighbour and ex-student Jocelyn Herbert
Jocelyn Herbert
Jocelyn Herbert RDI was a highly influential British stage designer.-Early life:Born in London, she was the second of the four children of the playwright, novelist, humorist and parliamentarian A. P. Herbert . Through him she had contact with theatre people, artists and writers...
, who was married to Anthony Lousada at the time. Sophie may already have known, but in any case she could no longer pretend ignorance and bliss. A few years after the English Stage Company came into being, George and Jocelyn moved to Rossetti Studios in Flood Street together, abandoning their families. Jocelyn became resident stage designer, her first design being a production of Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
's The Chairs featuring Devine and Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
.
They never married, but on his death Devine willed his entire estate to Jocelyn.
The George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright is named in his honor.
The English Stage Company
The form of theatre that Devine, Richardson and Goetschius dreamed of was very much a writer's theatre, and a theatre freed from the "Anyone for tennis?" upper-class milieu that English theatre had narrowed to. In January 1956, they placed an advert in the theatrical newspaper The StageThe Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
calling for scripts, and received 750 submissions. The company took over the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
in Sloane Square
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The square is part of the Hans Town area designed in 1771 by Henry...
and opened its first production, Angus Wilson
Angus Wilson
Sir Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson, CBE was an English novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received a knighthood for his services to literature.-Biography:Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England, to...
's 'The Mulberry Bush'.
Unfortunately, the 750 scripts were largely dross. The first three productions at The Court were dismal failures, and the future of the English Stage Company was very much in the balance, when along came Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
written by John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
. "This might have something", said Devine to Richardson when he'd finished reading it through. Indeed it did have something. Thanks largely to glowing reviews from the Sunday critics Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Tynan
Kenneth Peacock Tynan was an influential and often controversial English theatre critic and writer.-Early life:...
and Harold Hobson
Harold Hobson
Sir Harold Hobson was an influential English drama critic and author.He was born in Thorpe Hesley near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England and read History at Oxford University. He was an assistant literary editor for the Sunday Times from 1944 and later became its drama critic...
, Look Back was the revolution they'd been looking for.
The English Stage Company became not just a writer's theatre but a director's theatre too. Arnold Wesker
Arnold Wesker
Sir Arnold Wesker is a prolific British dramatist known for his contributions to kitchen sink drama. He is the author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings...
, Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe
Ann Jellicoe is a British actor, theatre director and playwright. Although her work has covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising new forms which challenge and delight unconventional audiences...
, Donald Howarth
Donald Howarth
Donald Howarth is a playwright and theatre director. After training at Esme Church's Northern Theatre School in Bradford, he worked in various repertory theatres around England before writing his first play, Sugar in the Morning, which was selected by George Devine for performance at the Royal...
, Keith Johnstone
Keith Johnstone
Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor whose teachings and books have focused on improvisational theatre and have had a major influence on the art of improvisation.-Education:...
, and Alan Sillitoe
Alan Sillitoe
Alan Sillitoe was an English writer and one of the "Angry Young Men" of the 1950s.. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied.- Biography :...
were some of the writers nurtured in Sloane Square. Anthony Page
Anthony Page
Anthony Page is a British stage- and film director.-Filmography:*Male of the Species 3-episode TV special that featured Sir Laurence Olivier, Paul Scofield, Sean Connery and Michael Caine. The Scofield episode, Emlyn, won an Emmy Award...
, Edward Bond
Edward Bond
Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
, Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
, William Gaskill
William Gaskill
William 'Bill' Gaskill is a British theatre director.He worked alongside Laurence Olivier as a founding director of the National Theatre from its time at the Old Vic in 1963...
, Peter Gill
Peter Gill (playwright)
Peter Gill, theatre director, playwright and former actor, was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 7 September 1939, son of George John Gill and his wife Margaret Mary .He was educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff.-Career:...
and John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
some of the now-famous directors.
Several more of John Osborne's plays were staged at the Royal Court—indeed, George Devine was appearing in one, the extravagant transvestite drama A Patriot for Me, when he suffered the heart attack that led quite quickly to his death at the age of 56.
He had begun to draft an autobiography, and it included these words:
- I was not strictly after a popular theatre a la Joan LittlewoodJoan LittlewoodJoan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
-Roger PlanchonRoger PlanchonRoger Planchon , was a French playwright, director, filmmaker.-Biography:...
, but a theatre that would be part of the intellectual life of the country. In this respect I consider I utterly failed. I feel I have the right to talk in this proprietary way about The English Stage Company to which I gave nine years of my life and nearly died in the tenth. I was convinced the way to achieve my objective was to get writers, writers of serious pretensions, back into the theatre. This I set out to do. I wanted to change the attitude of the public towards the theatre. All I did was to change the attitude of the theatre towards the public.
Selected filmography
- The Silent BattleThe Silent BattleThe Silent Battle is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Rex Harrison, Valerie Hobson and John Loder. It is also known by the alternative titles Continental Express and Peace in our Time. It was inspired by the novel Le Poisson Chinois by Jean Bommart...
(1939) - The Card (1952)
- The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera (film)The Beggar's Opera is a 1953 Technicolor film version of John Gay's 1728 ballad opera directed by Peter Brook and starring Laurence Olivier, Dorothy Tutin, Stanley Holloway and others. Olivier and Holloway do their own singing in this film, but Dorothy Tutin and several others were dubbed...
(1953) - The Million Pound NoteThe Million Pound NoteThe Million Pound Note is a 1954 British comedy, directed by Ronald Neame and starring Gregory Peck...
(1954) - Time Without PityTime Without PityTime Without Pity is a thriller about a father trying to save his son from execution for murder.It stars Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, and Leo McKern.-Plot:David Graham has only 24 hours to save his son, Alec, from hanging...
(1957) - Look Back in AngerLook Back in AngerLook Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
(1959) - Tom JonesTom Jones (film)Tom Jones is a 1963 British adventure comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling , starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards...
(1963)