Anthony Asquith

Director

About

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Also Known As

Asquith (Puffin)

Birth Place

London, England, GB

Born

November 09, 1902

Died

February 20, 1968

Biography

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With H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw and others, Asquith founded London's Film Society in 1925, and after a filmmaking apprenticeship in Hollywood, returned to England as a director in 1928. Along with Alfred Hitchcock, he was considered a major force in the British cinema during the 1930s and 40s. Beginning with his directing debut, "Shooting Stars" (co-directed with A.V. Bramble; 1928)...

Filmography

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An Evening With The Royal Ballet (1965)

Director of "Les Sylphides" and "Aurora's Wedding"

The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965)

Two Living, One Dead (1964)

The V.I.P.s (1963)

Guns of Darkness (1962)

The Millionairess (1961)

Photos & Videos

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Yellow Rolls Royce, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) You Should Refuse Me More

Yellow Rolls Royce, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) We Have Nothing Armor-Plated

Bibliography

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"'Puffin' Asquith"

R J Minney (1973)

"Anthony Asquith"

Peter Noble (1951)

Notes

Named a Commander of the Order of Al Merito della Republica in Italy.

Biography

With H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw and others, Asquith founded London's Film Society in 1925, and after a filmmaking apprenticeship in Hollywood, returned to England as a director in 1928. Along with Alfred Hitchcock, he was considered a major force in the British cinema during the 1930s and 40s. Beginning with his directing debut, "Shooting Stars" (co-directed with A.V. Bramble; 1928) which utilized experimental visual effects and "A Cottage on Dartmoor" (1929), a portrait of British life notable for its use of sound, Asquith became recognized for his tasteful, restrained and civilized quasi-documentary portraits of British life and manners.

With his superb film version of Shaw's "Pygmalion" (1938; co-directed with Leslie Howard), Asquith also began turning out expertly crafted theatrical adaptations, one of the finest of which is the delicious "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1952). From 1938 he began a profitable collaboration with playwright-screenwriter Terrence Rattigan, creating emotional studies of people under stress including, perhaps their finest joint work, "The Way to the Stars" (1945) as well as "The Winslow Boy" (1948), and "The Browning Version" (1950), and continuing through Asquith's last film, "The Yellow Rolls Royce" (1964). Son of liberal prime minister Lord Herbert Asquith.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

An Evening With The Royal Ballet (1965)

Director of "Les Sylphides" and "Aurora's Wedding"

The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965)

Two Living, One Dead (1964)

The V.I.P.s (1963)

Guns of Darkness (1962)

The Millionairess (1961)

The Doctor's Dilemma (1959)

Orders to Kill (1958)

On Such a Night (1955)

Carrington V.C. (1954)

The Young Lovers (1954)

The Final Test (1953)

The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952)

The Browning Version (1951)

The Woman in Question (1950)

The Winslow Boy (1948)

While the Sun Shines (1947)

The Way to the Stars (1945)

Fanny By Gaslight (1944)

We Dive at Dawn (1943)

Demi-Paradise (1943)

Uncensored (1942)

Cottage to Let (1941)

French Without Tears (1940)

Pygmalion (1939)

I Stand Condemned (1936)

The Unfinished Symphony (1935)

Supervisor of English version

Dance Pretty Lady (1932)

Tell England (1931)

A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929)

The Runaway Princess (1929)

Shooting Stars (1927)

Assistant Direction (Feature Film)

Boadicea (1928)

Assistant Director

Cast (Feature Film)

A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929)

Bespectacled Man In Cinema

Writer (Feature Film)

The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952)

Letting in the Sunshine (1933)

Dance Pretty Lady (1932)

Marry Me (1932)

Dance Pretty Lady (1932)

A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929)

The Runaway Princess (1929)

Shooting Stars (1927)

Shooting Stars (1927)

Editing (Feature Film)

Shooting Stars (1927)

Life Events

1925

Co-founded Film Society

1926

Went to Hollywood to study filmmaking methods

1928

Returned to England to assist Sinclair Hall on film, "Boadicea"

1928

First film as co-director (with A.V. Bramble), "Shooting Stars" (also screenwriter and editor)

1928

Solo film directing debut, "Underground"

1930

Co-directed (with Geoffrey Barkas) first sound film, "Tell England"

1937

Became first president of Association of Cinematographic Technicians

1939

First collaboration with Terrence Rattigan, filming his play, "French Without Tears"

1945

Formed International Screenplays with Terrence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald

Videos

Yellow Rolls Royce, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) You Should Refuse Me More Brit nobleman Charles (Rex Harrison) returns home (exteriors of the famous Cliveden house) for a weekend of socializing and horses to wife Eloise (Jeanne Moreau), in the first episode from The Yellow Rolls Royce, 1964, directed by Anthony Asquith.

Yellow Rolls Royce, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) We Have Nothing Armor-Plated Beginning the second of three stories linked by the car, we meet American gangster Paolo (George C. Scott), his aide (Art Carney) and moll Mae (Shirley MacLaine), greeted by a salesman (Riccardo Garrone ) in Genoa, in The Yellow Rolls Royce. 1964.

Yellow Rolls-Royce, The (1964) -- (Movie Clip) A Shakespeare, A Tolstoy And A Toothbrush At Trieste, 1941, Ingrid Bergman as international society widow Mrs. Millett has just purchased the car of the title, with her aide Hortense (Joyce Grenfell), their discussion of their trip to turbulent Yugoslavia overheard by handsome Davich (Omar Sharif), the third story in The Yellow Rolls-Royce. 1964.

V.I.P.s, The (1963) -- (Movie Clip) What Lives You Tycoons Lead Introducing the last of the above-the-title stars, Maggie Smith as the assistant to Rod Taylor as self-deprecating Australian industrialist Les Mangrum, Richard Wattis as the obsequious airline manager, all from Terence Rattigan’s original script, Anthony Asquith directing, in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

V.I.P.s, The (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Opening Credits There’s a hint of irony and some achievement in the credits for the MGM all-star drama, Anthony Asquith directing as we meet Liz and Dick (Taylor And Burton), Orson Welles, Louis Jourdan, Elsa Martinelli, Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith and Academy Award-winner Margaret Rutherford, in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

V.I.P.s, The (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Through The Common Herd First scene for top-billed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as jet setters Frances and Paul Andros, Dennis Price his assistant Millbank, Richard Wattis the airline manager, bumping (not incidentally, it will transpire) into bon vivant friend Marc (Louis Jourdan), early in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

V.I.P.s, The (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Room With No View Joining in the premise-setting, Richard Wattis as B.O.A.C. official Sanders, Orson Welles as movie director Buda, Elsa Martinelli his latest discovery, Martin Miller his money man, then Margaret Rutherford in her Academy Award-winning role as Duchess Brighton, in The V.I.P.s, 1963.

Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Surgeons Are The Worst Opening narration by Felix Aylmer, whom we’ll learn is London psychologist Sir Patrick Cullen, ruminating about medicine as he visits his suddenly famous friend Dr. Ridgeon (John Robinson), Anthony Asquith directing from the Bernard Shaw play, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1959.

Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) They Daren't Be Ill Dr. Colenso Ridgeon (John Robinson) with colleagues congratulating him on his knighthood, poor Blenkinsop (Michael Gwynn) joins prosperous Sir Ralph, Walpole and Sir Patrick (Robert Morley, Alastair Sim, Felix Aylmer), in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1959, from the George Bernard Shaw play, starring Leslie Caron and Dirk Bogarde.

Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Intemperate, Disheveled, Dissolute Invited to dine by Ridgeon (John Robinson) and fellow doctors (Robert Morley, Alastair Sim et al) to assess his worthiness for a cure, consumptive artist Dubedat (Dirk Bogarde) and wife (Leslie Caron) appear to pass muster, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1958, from the Bernard Shaw play.

Guns Of Darkness (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Just An Old English Custom With a New Year?s midnight coup brewing in a fictional South American republic, British sugar firm boss Bryant (James Robertson Justice) parties with spooky local Hernandez (Derek Godfrey) and his own unruly P-R man Jordan (David Niven) and wife (Leslie Caron), early in Guns Of Darkness, 1962.

Guns Of Darkness (1962) -- (Movie Clip) You Must Feel Strongly Jordan (David Niven), the British corporate P-R man stationed in remote South America, has unintentionally taken in the wounded newly-ousted president (David Opatoshu), leaving him without time for his already justifiably angered wife (Leslie Caron) in Guns Of Darkness, 1962.

Doctor's Dilemma, The - (Original Trailer) A woman tries to convince the medical profession to save her ill husband despite his lack of character in The Doctor's Dilemma (1958), starring Leslie Caron and Dirk Bogarde.

Importance of Being Earnest, The (1952) - (Original Trailer) A British gentleman is one man in the city, another in the country in Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952).

V.I.P.s, The - (Original Trailer) Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport experience a series of personal trials in The V.I.P.s (1963) starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton.

Yellow Rolls-Royce, The - (Original Trailer) A classic car changes the lives of three sets of owners in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) starring Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine and Ingrid Bergman.

Family

Herbert Asquith

Father

Politician. Served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916.

Margot Tennant

Mother

Second wife of Herbert Asquith.

Helena Bonham Carter

Great-Niece

Actor.

Bibliography

"'Puffin' Asquith"

R J Minney (1973)

"Anthony Asquith"

Peter Noble (1951)

Notes

Named a Commander of the Order of Al Merito della Republica in Italy.

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