Brian Gilbert

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Brian Gilbert was a film director. Born in England, he spent much of his childhood in Australia, where he was a child actor of film, television and radio. Returning to England at the age of fourteen, he completed his education at Oxford University.

He continued working as a professional actor until 1979, when he joined the National Film and Television School as a directing student. So well-received was his graduation film, The Devotee that producer David Puttman immediately commissioned him to write and direct a feature length film for the Channel Four First Love series back in the 80s. From there, he went on to direct The Frog Prince (French Lessons US title), a French-English co-production.

Subsequently, he has worked sporadically in both Hollywood and the UK, directing Vice Versa in 1988, and in 1990 - Not Without My Daughter, the adaptation of the controversial best-seller of the same name, which starred Sally Field as Betty Mahmoody. That hit was to be his last.

Four years later came Tom & Viv starring Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson, the story of poet T. S. Eliot's first marriage, nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. This was ventually followed by the 1997 production Wilde, starring Jude Law and Stephen Fry, based on the Richard Ellmann biography of Oscar Wilde. In 2002, he directed The Gathering, starring Christina Ricci, which went straight to DVD five years after its completion. He also wrote and directed the documentary Lord Haw-Haw: Portrait of a Fanatic for UK and Irish television, and in 2006, directed the stage version of Mary Kenny's play Allegiance, starring Mel Smith, and produced by Daniel Jewel, at the Edinburgh Festival. He is now retired, other than regular guest tutor slots at the National Film and Television School.