Gerald Savory

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 (1909-11-17)17 November 1909 London, England
Died	9 February 1996(1996-02-09) (aged 86) England
Occupation(s)	Writer, television producer
Spouses	Teo Dunbar ​ ​ (m. 1938, divorced)​ Althea Murphy ​ ​ (m. 1950; died 1952)​ Annette Carell ​ ​ (m. 1953; died 1967)​ Sheila Brennan ​ (m. 1970)​

Early life

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]

Career

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]

Personal life

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]

Plays

• 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

Novels

• Hughie Roddis 1942
• Behold This Dreamer 1943

Television

• South, 24 November 1959, ITV Play of the Week (adaptation)
• Count Dracula, 1977
• Mapp and Lucia, Series One 1985; Series Two 1986