Lewis Gilbert was born as Louis Laurie Isaacs in Clapton, London, to a second-generation family of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, Ada, who was of Jewish descent, and George Gilbert, and watching the shows from the wings.
16 Facts About Lewis Gilbert
2.
Lewis Gilbert first performed on stage at the age of five, when asked to drive a trick car around the stage.
3.
Lewis Gilbert's father contracted tuberculosis as a young man and died aged 34, when Gilbert was seven.
4.
Lewis Gilbert's mother was a film extra, and he had an erratic formal education.
5.
Alexander Korda offered to send him to RADA, but Gilbert chose to study direction instead, assisting Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn.
6.
Lewis Gilbert was eventually seconded to the First Motion Picture Unit of the US Army Air Forces, where his commanding officer was William Keighley, an American film director, who allowed Gilbert to take on much of his film-making work.
7.
Lewis Gilbert made his name as a director in the 1950s and 1960s with a series of successful films, often working as the film's writer and producer as well.
8.
Lewis Gilbert used the technique of having the lead character speak directly to the viewer, a technique he later used in Shirley Valentine.
9.
Lewis Gilbert said Alfie was only made because the low budget was "the sort of money Paramount executives normally spend on cigar bills".
10.
Lewis Gilbert was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director.
11.
Lewis Gilbert turned down the opportunity to direct On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
12.
Lewis Gilbert returned to the series in the 1970s to make The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.
13.
Lewis Gilbert was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1997 Birthday Honours for services to the film industry.
14.
In 2001, Lewis Gilbert was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute, the highest accolade in the British film industry.
15.
Lewis Gilbert was married to Hylda Tafler for 53 years, until her death in June 2005.
16.
Lewis Gilbert died at home in Monaco on 23 February 2018, aged 97.