# Alvin Rakoff

Alvin Rakoff (February 6, 1927 – October 12, 2024) was a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner.
Rakoff awarded Sean Connery his first leading role, and gave Alan Rickman his first job when he was a drama student. Other actors he worked with early in their careers include Michael Crawford, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Caine.

## Early life

Rakoff was born on February 6, 1927. His mother came from Rivne, Ukraine; his father was from Voronezh, Russia. His parents met in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the third of seven children. His parents had a shop in Kensington Market. When Rakoff was 16, he changed his first name from Abraham to Alvin, inspired by Alvin York and the film Sergeant York.
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".
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. In his 1978 production of Romeo & Juliet for the BBC Television Shakespeare series he cast the then unknown actor Alan Rickman as Tybalt. 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 included Too Marvellous For Words, the story of lyricist Johnny Mercer presented at The Mill Theatre, Sonning, and King's Head Theatre, London. He had written three novels. His first, & Gillian, a romantic novel, 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. An adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep was produced in 2012.
His theatre work ranged from Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic to a Charity Cruise performance at the Royal Albert Hall before Her Majesty the Queen, and continued 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 was a president of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.
Rakoff died at his home in Chiswick, London on October 12, 2024, at the age of 97.

## Filmography
### Feature films (director)

| Year | Film | Cast |
| 1958 | Passport to Shame | Diana Dors, Herbert Lom, 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. 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.