Philip Saville, British television director and screenwriter, Died at 86

Philip Saville was born on October 28, 1930, in London and died on December 22, 2016.

He was a British television and film director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century.

He was described by the British Film Institute’s Screenonline website as “one of Britain’s most prolific and pioneering television and film directors”.

Saville began his working life as an actor.

Since the 1950s, Saville worked in television as a director working on plays such as Harold Pinter’s A Night Out (1960) for ABC’s Armchair Theatre anthology series.

Saville directed over 40 plays for Armchair Theatre and helped pioneer the innovative visual style it became known for, including rapid and intricate camera movements during the often live productions.

John Russell Taylor, the critic, however, wrote that Saville of had submerged the romance “Duel for Love” (Armchair Theatre, 1961) “under intricate camerawork of exquisite beauty and complete irrelevance”

He was married to the actress, film, and theatre director Jane Arden with whom he had two sons, Sebastian and Dominic.

Philip Saville passed away 86 years old.