Biography for
Bryan Forbes More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

22 July 1926, Stratford, London, England, UK

Birth Name

John Theobald Clarke

Spouse

Nanette Newman	(27 August 1955 - present) 2 children
Constance Smith	(10 February 1951 - 1955) (divorced)

Trivia

Children: Emma Forbes and Sarah Forbes.

Father-in-law of actor John Standing, although he is only eight years his senior.

Author of several novels beginning in 1972 with "Distant Laughter".

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1975, but has been in remission for almost thirty years. He put his subsequent remission down to a gluten-free diet and a loving wife (BBC News 2004).

Collaborated with composer John Barry on many of the films he directed starting in 1962 with The L-Shaped Room.

Roger Moore was best man at his wedding to Nanette Newman.

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to the Arts in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

An Associate Member of RADA.

Left RADA before graduating after he was refused permission to take on professional acting roles to supplement his income.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 345-349. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Donated his production files to The Margaret Herrick Library at the Fairbanks Centre for Motion Picture Study.

Turned down the chance to direct the first James Bond movie, Dr. No (1962), because he thought it was going to be "just another bang bang movie."

Served with Roger Moore in the British Army of Occupation in Germany in 1947.

His salary as Head of Production/Managing Director EMI-MGM Elstree was reported by The Times (March 26th 1971) as £35,000 p.a. The same article reported that at this time he could have been earning up to £150,000 per film had he continued his own successful career as actor/screenwriter/producer/director.

Educated at West Hammersmith Secondary School, Hammersmith, Middlesex, England.

Established Allied Film Makers (AFM) in 1959 along with Richard Attenborough, Guy Green, Basil Dearden, Michael Relph and Jack Hawkins. AFM acted as a producers co-operative in conjunction with The Rank Organisation which provided 10% of the costs (but no artistic control). The first collaboration was 'The League of Gentleman' premiered in 1960 and the sixth most successful box office film of 1960.

A plaque to honour the career of Bryan Forbes was unveiled at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood on 3rd February 2008. In addition to Forbes and his wife Nanette Newman, Richard Attenborough, one of Forbes' oldest friends, made a surprise guest appearance. This was the first visit by Forbes, the former Head of Production/Managing Director EMI-MGM Elstree, for many years.

Forbes, together with his long-time friend and collaborator Richard Attenborough, established Beaver Films Limited an independent production company which went on to produce three of their most respected films; The Angry Silence (1960), Whistle Down the Wind (1961) and Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964). The name "Beaver" was apparently the invention of their wives, Nanette Newman and Sheila Sim. Today, the now Lord Attenborough, lives at Beaver Lodge.

In 1942 he became a "question master" on the BBC Radio quiz program, Junior Brains Trust.

Joined Capitol Radio (London) as a director in 1973.

Read the address at a small gathering of friends remembering the life of Jane Baxter (1909-96) at her local church in Wimbledon. She had made a specific request in her will that no formal memorial service should be held.

He is President of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

Personal Quotes

An actor must have arrogance, conceit...I would never have made it as an actor, but I still have conceit.

If you treat the production of films like the production of shoes, you end up with Hush Puppies.

I may not have come up the hard way, but I have come up the whole way.

I was a writer who became an actor who became a screenwriter who became a director. (2007)

Salary

The Small Back Room (1949)

£ 100

Where Are They Now

(June 2004) President of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

(2008) Regular contributor to "The Spectator" magazine (UK).

(May 2009) Wentworth, Surrey, England

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