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Gerald Douglas Savory (17 November 1909 – 9 February 1996) was an English writer and television producer specialising in comedies.[1][2]
Gerald Savory | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gerald Douglas Savory 17 November 1909 London, England |
| Died | 9 February 1996 (aged 86) England |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, television producer |
| Spouses | Althea Murphy
(m. 1950; died 1952)Sheila Brennan (m. 1970) |
The son of Kenneth Douglas Savory and actress Grace Lane (1877–1956),[3][4] Savory was educated at Bradfield College and worked as a stockbroker's clerk before turning to the stage (Hull Repertory Theatre Company 1931–33), first as an actor then a writer.[2][5]
Savory's play George and Margaret, written while out of work as an actor, ran for two years at Wyndham's Theatre and a year at the Piccadilly.[6] It then transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 86 performances, and was later filmed.[7][8] His earliest work in the film industry was as a dialogue writer for director Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937).[1]
Savory lived in the USA in the 1940s and 50s writing for film and television, and became an American citizen.[2] After returning to England in the mid 1950s he became a writer, producer and production manager for Granada Television, producing five episodes of ITV Play of the Week; adapting Saki, J.B. Priestley, Noël Coward and Tennessee Williams for television. He then joined BBC Television, first as Head of Serials, then Head of Plays.[4] He produced the unsuccessful series Churchill's People (1975–76) for the BBC and Love in a Cold Climate (1980) for Thames Television.[9][10]
Savory was married four times but had no children other than a stepson by his fourth wife. His first marriage, to writer Teo Dunbar,[3] ended in divorce. In 1950, he married American actress Althea Murphy (1916–1952), who died of leukemia in 1952.[11][12][13] In 1953, he married actress Annette Carell, who died by suicide in 1967.[14][15] He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Sheila Brennan, whom he married in 1970.[16][3]
Savory died in England on 9 February 1996.[17]
- George and Margaret 1937[18] (377 performances in the West End, filmed in 1940)
- Hand in Glove 1944 with Charles K. Freeman based on his own novel Hughie Roddis[19]
- A Likely Tale 1957[20]
- A Month of Sundays 1957
- So Many Children 1959
- Cup and Saucer 1961
- Twinkling of an Eye 1965
- Hughie Roddis 1942
- Behold This Dreamer 1943
- South, 24 November 1959, ITV Play of the Week (adaptation)
- Count Dracula, 1977
- Mapp and Lucia, Series One 1985; Series Two 1986
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