Please answer the following question: Facts: - years active: 1920 -lrb- director -rrb- -- 1936 -lrb- actor -rrb- 1937 -- 1963 - death date: 19 october 1997 - spouse: phyllis -lrb- ? -- 1941 -rrb- - awards: locarno and evelyne international film festival most entertaining film 1949 adam - birth date: 23 april 1897 - name: harold french - death place: london , england , uk - birth place: london , england , uk - occupation: actor film director Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of harold french .
A:
harold french -lrb- 23 april 1897 in london -- 19 october 1997 -rrb- was an english film director , screenwriter and actor .as an actor , most of his roles occurred between 1912 and 1936 , not gaining as much attention as later he would as a director .he worked as a screenwriter on three of the four films produced by marcel hellman 's and douglas fairbanks jr. 's production company '' criterion film productions '' in the late 1930s , before switching to film direction in 1937 , often with marcel hellman as producer .from 1940 to 1955 , he had several box-office successes as director .this successful period was clouded by the 1941 death of his wife phyllis in a luftwaffe bombing raid .although he did some tv work after 1955 , he appears to have retired from directing and acting after 1963 .he died in 1997 at the age of 100 .