Peter Glenville

Peter Glenville was responsible for directing several feature films, starting with "The Prisoner" (1955) and concluding with "The Comedians in Africa" (1967), a sequel to his somewhat awkward adaptation of Graham Greene's "The Comedians" (1967). Perhaps it was during Glenville's theatrical tenure, as an actor in the 1930s and a director in the 40s and 50s, that he developed his taste in films. Over the course of twelve years, Glenville directed clubfooted costume dramas and stock boulevard farces, usually fronted by high-profile thespians. Onstage, he guided Maurice Evans and Edna Best in "The Browning Version," Beatrice Straight in "The Innocents," Olivia de Havilland in "Romeo and Juliet" and Bert Lahr and Angela Lansbury in "Hotel Paradiso." He also directed the original stage productions as well as the feature versions of "The Prisoner" (with Alec Guinness recreating his stage triumph) and "Becket" (onstage with Anthony Quinn and Laurence Olivier and on film with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole). Other feature credits include "Summer and Smoke" (1961), which earned its star Geraldine Page an Oscar nomination, and the all-star "The Comedians," with Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Ustinov.