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Alvin Rakoff (February 6, 1927)^[1] is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner.^[2]

Rakoff awarded Sean Connery his first leading role, and gave Alan Rickman his first job when he was a drama student.^[3] Other actors he worked with early in their careers include Michael Crawford, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Caine.^[4]

Early life

Rakoff's mother came from Rovno in Ukraine; his father was from Voronezh in Russia. His parents met in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the third of seven children. His parents had a shop in Kensington Market. After graduation from the University of Toronto, he became a journalist and began writing for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's nascent television service. He was seconded by the CBC to visit the UK - "the place where TV started". Days after arriving he sold a script to the British Broadcasting Corporation, at the time the only television broadcaster in the UK. The BBC subsequently invited him to join their television directors' training course. At 26 years of age, he became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department. He became a resident in the United Kingdom through working extensively worldwide.

Career

A BBC adaptation in 1953 of the Irwin Shaw novel The Troubled Air was his first major writing assignment for television. In 1954, his production of Waiting For Gillian won the Daily Mail's National TV Award with actors Patrick Barr and Anne Crawford also honoured. He later recreated this production in French for transmission throughout France. In 1955, on the night commercial TV first appeared in the UK he was asked by the BBC to offer the main opposition, The Hole In The Wall with Mervyn Johns and Sidney Tafler, of which The Times wrote: "Mr. Rakoff who seems to be a master of this medium".^{[citation needed]}

In his 1957 production Requiem for a Heavyweight he lifted an unknown actor, Sean Connery, from the ranks of walk-ons and gave Connery his first leading role. Also in this production was another performer early in his career, Michael Caine. In 1958, Rakoff adapted, directed, and produced Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court Martial for the BBC.

In 1962, the BBC asked Rakoff to produce/direct its entry for the European-wide 'The Largest Theatre In The World' written especially for the occasion by Terence Rattigan and called Heart to Heart, with Kenneth More and Ralph Richardson. In 1964, when the new channel BBC 2 was launched Rakoff was selected to direct plays filling the first three Sunday-night drama slots (The Seekers). He won his first Emmy Award in 1967 for Call Me Daddy, which had featured Donald Pleasence, and 15 years later won it again for A Voyage Round My Father (Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, and Jane Asher took the leads) which he produced and directed.

His production of The Adventures of Don Quixote (1973) with Rex Harrison and Frank Finlay achieved international praise.^[5] In his 1978 production of Romeo & Juliet for the BBC Television Shakespeare series he cast the then unknown actor Alan Rickman as Tybalt.^[6] In 1997 he produced and co-directed the award-winning A Dance to the Music of Time with John Gielgud, Simon Russell Beale, and Miranda Richardson.

His films include On Friday at Eleven (a.k.a. World in My Pocket in the U.S.) starring Rod Steiger; Say Hello to Yesterday (1970), which he also wrote, featured Jean Simmons and Leonard Whiting; Hoffman starred Peter Sellers; City on Fire, which he co-wrote, starred Henry Fonda, Ava Gardner, and Shelley Winters.

Rakoff's writing includes Too Marvellous For Words, the story of lyricist Johnny Mercer presented at The Mill Theatre, Sonning, and King's Head Theatre, London. He has written three novels. His first, & Gillian, a romantic odyssey, was translated into 10 languages. His second, Baldwin Street, based on his early days in his parents' shop in Toronto, was published in 2008. The Seven Einsteins, a third novel, is a genetic thriller published in 2014. A successful adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep was produced in 2012.

His theatre work ranges from Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic to a Charity Cruise performance at the Royal Albert Hall before Her Majesty the Queen, and continues with his association with The Mill Theatre, Sonning, directing productions of Separate Tables with Anthony Valentine and his own adaptation of Chandler's The Big Sleep.

In 2010, Rakoff directed A Sentimental Journey, the story of Doris Day, at Wilton's Music Hall, London, and subsequently (2012) El Portal Theatre, Hollywood.

He is a former president of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

Filmography

Feature films (director)

Year	Film	Cast
1958	Passport to Shame	Eddie Constantine
1959	The Treasure of San Teresa	Eddie Constantine
1961	World in My Pocket	Rod Steiger
1964	The Comedy Man	Kenneth More
1969	Crossplot	Roger Moore, Claudie Lange, Francis Matthews, Gabrielle Drake, Bernard Lee
1970	Hoffman	Peter Sellers, Sinead Cusack
1971	Say Hello to Yesterday	Jean Simmons, Leonard Whiting
1979	City on Fire	Henry Fonda, Ava Gardner, Shelley Winters
1979	King Solomon's Treasure	David McCallum, Patrick Macnee, Britt Ekland
1980	Death Ship	George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso
1981	Dirty Tricks	Elliott Gould

Television (director)

Year	Title	Cast
1953	Holiday Girl	Mantovani Orchestra
1953	Starlight
1953	A Place of Execution
1953	Strictly Personal
1953	The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill
1954	Willie the Squouse
1954	The Lover	Diana Wynyard
1954	Waiting for Gillian	Patrick Barr, Anne Crawford (National Television Award)
1955	Waiting for Gillian (French TV version form Paris, re-titled Un Chemin Dans La Nuit)
1954	The Face of Love	Peter Cushing, Mary Morris, George Rose
1954	Return to the River
1954	The Good Partners
1954	Tyrant's Tower
1954	Teckman Biography by Francis Durbridge
1955	Three Empty Rooms by Reginald Rose	Jacqueline Hill
1955	The New Executive
1955	The Hole in the Wall	Mervyn Johns, Sidney Tafler
1955	Thunder in the Realm (Canada)
1955	The Legend of Pepito	Sam Wanamaker, Jacqueline Hill
1956	The Reclining Figure	Donald Wolfit
1956	For the Defence
1956	The Condemned	André Morell, Sean Connery
1956	Epitaph	Trevor Howard, Leo McKern
1956	The Seat of the Scornful	Basil Sydney, Finlay Currie, Jacqueline Hill
1956	No Man's Land	Alec McCowen
1957	Dial 999 (series, 4 episodes)
1957	The Staring Match
1957	Requiem for a Heavyweight	Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Warren Mitchell
1957	Our Town	Heather Sears
1958	The Caine Mutiny Court Martial
1958	Breakdown	Nigel Davenport, Roger Livesey
1958	Man in the Corner
1959	Velvet Alley	Sam Wanamaker, Jacqueline Hill
1959	The Ransom of Red Chief (USA)	William Bendix, Hans Conreid
1959	The Dark Side of the Earth
1960	The Leather Jungle	Freddie Mills, Neil McCallum
1960	A Town Has Turned to Dust	Rod Steiger
1960	Come In Razor Red	Richard Harris
1961	Joker's Justice	Dan Massey, Leo McKern
1961	The Room by Harold Pinter
1961	A Reason for Staying	Anthony Quayle, Denholm Elliott, Warren Mitchell
1962	Heart to Heart by Terence Rattigan ("The Largest Theatre in the World", European Union television drama entry)	Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, Wendy Craig, Jean Marsh
1962	A Quiet Game of Cards	Bernard Braden
1962	Call Me Back	Alec McCowen
1963	The Remarkable Incident at Carsons Corners
1964	The Seekers	Michael Bryant
1964	The Blackpool Trilogy	Julia Foster, Nicola Pagett
1965	Court Martial (series)	Peter Graves, Bradford Dillman
1966	You'll Know Me by the Stars in My Eyes	Jane Asher, Nigel Patrick, Phyllis Calvert
1966	The Move After Checkmate	Michael Crawford
1966	The Sweet War Man	Kenneth More
1967	The Girl	Joss Ackland, Brenda Bruce
1967	The Man Who Understood Women	Jane Asher
1967	Call Me Daddy (Emmy Award)	Donald Pleasence
1968	Murder	Peter Egan
1971	A Kiss Is Just a Kiss	Keir Dullea
1971	Summer and Smoke	Lee Remick
1972	Blur & Blank via Cleckheaton	Denholm Elliott
1972	A Man About a Dog
1972	The Adventures of Don Quixote	Rex Harrison, Frank Finlay, Rosemary Leach
1973	Shadow of a Gunman	Stephen Rea
1973	Harlequinade
1974	Cheap in August	Leo McKern, Virginia McKenna
1974	Jan & Tony, "Rooms"
1974	How to Impeach A President (USA)
1974	A Brisk Dip Sagaciously Considered
1974	Shall We Have a King? (USA)
1975	Husband to Mrs Fitzherbert	Nicholas Jones
1975	The Nicest Man in the World	Celia Johnson
1975	The October Crisis (Canada)
1975	Lulu Street (Canada)
1975	The Liberty Tree	Jeremy Irons, Julian Fellowes
1976	The Killers
1976	In Praise of Love	Kenneth More, Claire Bloom
1976	Mrs Amsworth	Glynis Johns
1976	The Promise
1976	The Dame Of Sark	Celia Johnson, Peter Dyneley
1977	The Kitchen	Peter Egan, Sinéad Cusack
1978	Romeo & Juliet	Alan Rickman, Celia Johnson, Michael Hordern, Jacqueline Hill
1980	The Quiet Days of Mrs Stafford	Susan Littler
1981	The Breadwinner	Michael Gambon
1982	Disraeli	Richard Pasco
1982	A Voyage Round My Father	Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Jane Asher
1983	Firework For Elspeth	Fiona Shaw
1983	Mr Halpern & Mr Johnson	Laurence Olivier, Jackie Gleason
1983	A Talent for Murder	Laurence Olivier, Angela Lansbury
1984	The First Olympics, Athens 1896	Angela Lansbury, Louis Jordan, David Caruso
1985	Paradise Postponed	Zoe Wanamaker, David Threlfall, Michael Hordern, etc.
1989	Haunting Harmony
1990	Gas & Candles
1991/1992	Sam Saturday	Ivan Kaye
1992	The Best Of Friends	John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Patrick McGoohan
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Miranda Richardson, Simon Russell Beale, Alan Bennett, John Gielgud

Writing (television, films, books)

Year	Title	Role
1953	The Troubled Air	adaptor (TV)
1953	A Flight of Fancy	writer (TV)
1953	Our Town	adaptor (TV)
1954	Waiting for Gillian	co-adaptor (TV)
1958	The Caine Mutiny Court Martial	adaptor (TV)
1970	Say Hello To Yesterday	writer (film)
1973	A Man About Dog	adaptor (TV)
1973	Shadow Of A Gunman	adaptor (TV)
1978	City On Fire	co-writer (film)
1991/92	Sam Saturday	creator (TV series)
1996	& Gillian	(novel, Little Brown)
2001/02	Too Marvelous For Words	writer (musical)
2008	Baldwin Street	(novel, Bunim & Bannigan, New York)
2012	The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler	(stage adaptation)
2014	The Seven Einsteins	(novel, Author House)

Theatre credits (director)

• 1965 - Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic

(Richard Pasco, Barbara Leigh Hunt, Margaret Courtney, etc.)

• 1982 - Celia Johnson Theatre fund, Aldwych Theatre

(Ralph Richardson, Jeremy Irons, Richard Briers, etc.)

• 1984 - Cruise Charity, Albert Hall

(Richard Briers, John Gielgud, Penelope Keith, Wayne Sleep, etc.)

• 1995 – Stage Struck by Simon Gray, The Mill at Sonning

(Nicholas Jones)

• 2001-2002 – Too Marvelous For Words: The Story of Lyricist Johnny Mercer

(written and directed) The Mill at Sonning

• 2002 – Too Marvelous For Words, King's Head Theatre, London
• 2004 – I Remember You by Bernard Slade, The Mill at Sonning
• 2005 – Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan, The Mill at Sonning

(Anthony Valentine, Glynis Barber)

• 2007 – Same Time Next Year by Bernard Slade, The Mill at Sonning

(Steven Pacey, Shona Lindsay)

• 2009 – A Sentimental Journey, The Story of Doris Day. The Mill at Sonning

(Sally Hughes, Glyn Kerslake)

• 2010 – A Sentimental Journey, The Story of Doris Day. Wilton's, London
• 2011 - The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. The world's first stage adaptation of the famous crime novel. Adapted with his son John D. Rakoff.
• 2011 - A Sentimental Journey, The Story of Doris Day - Edinburgh Festival; The Mill at Sonning; El Portal Theater, Los Angeles.

References

External links

• Alvin Rakoff at IMDb