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20 Facts About Peter Glenville

1.

Peter Glenville was a prominent director of stage plays on the West End and Broadway in the 1950s.

2.

Peter Glenville was nominated for four Tony Awards for his American plays.

3.

The family were devout Irish Catholics, and Peter Glenville maintained this religion for his entire life.

4.

Peter Glenville attended Stonyhurst College and studied law at Christ Church, Oxford.

5.

Peter Glenville was president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, and performed in many roles for them.

6.

Peter Glenville performed as an actor in the UK, where he started directing.

7.

Peter Glenville directed the Bridget Boland play The Prisoner at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh in March 1954, and then at the Globe Theatre in London, starring Alec Guinness.

8.

Peter Glenville made his film debut as director with the 1955 adaptation of The Prisoner.

9.

In 1960, Peter Glenville directed Barbara Bel Geddes and Henry Fonda on Broadway in Silent Night, Lonely Night by Robert Anderson.

10.

Peter Glenville suggested a road tour with Olivier playing Henry II.

11.

For Dylan, based on the life of Dylan Thomas, Peter Glenville worked again with his frequent collaborator, Sir Alec Guinness.

12.

Peter Glenville directed Edward Albee's adaptation of Giles Cooper's play Everything in the Garden ; John Osborne's A Patriot for Me with Maximilian Schell, Salome Jens and Tommy Lee Jones in his Broadway debut; and Tennessee Williams' Out Cry.

13.

Peter Glenville directed the films Me and the Colonel with Danny Kaye, Summer and Smoke with Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey, Term of Trial with Laurence Olivier, Simone Signoret and Sarah Miles; Becket with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole; Hotel Paradiso with Guinness and Gina Lollobrigida; and The Comedians with Elizabeth Taylor, Burton, Guinness, and Peter Ustinov.

14.

In 1970, Peter Glenville directed another new Terence Rattigan play in the West End, A Bequest to the Nation.

15.

Peter Glenville was nominated for four Tony Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, one Academy Award and one Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Term of Trial.

16.

Peter Glenville was for most of his life a closeted homosexual.

17.

Peter Glenville met Hardy William Smith after the end of World War II.

18.

Peter Glenville said that he had retired from directing due to a perceived left-wing turn in art and culture, as well as an embrace of Method acting techniques.

19.

Peter Glenville disliked the latter and found Method actors difficult to direct.

20.

Peter Glenville died in New York City on 3 June 1996, aged 82, from a heart attack.