Gerald Savory

{{Short description|English screenwriter and TV producer (1909–1996)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Gerald Savory

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Gerald Douglas Savory

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|11|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|02|09|1909|11|17|df=y}}

| death_place = England

| nationality =

| other_names =

| occupation = Writer, television producer

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| spouses = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Teo Dunbar|1938||end=divorced}}
{{marriage |Althea Murphy|1950|1952|end=died}}
{{marriage |Annette Carell|1953|1967|end=died}}
{{marriage |Sheila Brennan|1970}}}}

}}

Gerald Douglas Savory (17 November 1909 – 9 February 1996) was an English writer and television producer who specialised in comedies.{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1f58906|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210180712/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1f58906|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 February 2018|title=Gerald Savory}}

Early life

The son of Kenneth Douglas Savory and actress Grace Lane (1877–1956),{{cite book|title=Who's Who In The Theatre|date=1972|publisher=Pitman|page=1379|edition=15th|url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.234564/2015.234564.Whos-Who#page/n1389/mode/1up}}{{cite news|last1=Shivas|first1=Mark|title=Obituary: Gerald Savory|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-gerald-savory-1340741.html|work=The Independent|date=7 March 1996}} Savory was educated at Bradfield College and worked as a stockbroker's clerk before turning to the stage (Hull Repertory Theatre Company 1931–33), first as an actor then a writer.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/gerald-savory-p118821|title=Gerald Savory - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/q34/gerald-savory|title=Gerald Savory - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}

Career

Savory's play George and Margaret, written while out of work as an actor, ran for two years at Wyndham's Theatre and a year at the Piccadilly.{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/3a5/george-margaret/production/7df|title=Production of George & Margaret - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}} It then transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 86 performances, and was later filmed.{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/george-and-margaret-12283|title=George and Margaret – Broadway Play – Original - IBDB|first=The Broadway|last=League|website=www.ibdb.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6aaf2909|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505185417/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6aaf2909|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 May 2019|title=George and Margaret (1940)}} His earliest work in the film industry was as a dialogue writer for director Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937).

Savory lived in the USA in the 1940s and 50s writing for film and television, and became an American citizen. After returning to England in the mid 1950s he became a writer, producer and production manager for Granada Television, producing five episodes of ITV Play of the Week; adapting Saki, J.B. Priestley, Noël Coward and Tennessee Williams for television. He then joined BBC Television, first as Head of Serials, then Head of Plays. He produced the unsuccessful series Churchill's People (1975–76) for the BBC and Love in a Cold Climate (1980) for Thames Television.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/century/1970-1979/Story/0,,106916,00.html|title=Churchill's People - 1970-1979 - Guardian Century|website=www.theguardian.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/love-in-a-cold-climate-v269292/cast-crew#crew|title=Love in a Cold Climate (1980) - Donald McWhinnie - Cast and Crew - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}

Personal life

Savory was married four times but had no children other than a stepson by his fourth wife. His first marriage, to writer Teo Dunbar, ended in divorce. In 1950, he married American actress Althea Murphy (1916–1952), who died of leukemia in 1952.{{cite magazine|title=Marriages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vB0EAAAAMBAJ&q=althea+murphy+gerald+savory&pg=PA28|magazine=Billboard|date=30 December 1950|page=28|language=en}}{{cite magazine|title=The Final Curtain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dB8EAAAAMBAJ&q=althea+murphy+gerald+savory&pg=PA65|magazine=Billboard|date=8 November 1952|page=65}}{{cite news|title=Obituary: Althea Murphy Savory|url=http://news.wilmettelibrary.info/1413628/data?n=18|work=Wilmette Life|date=November 6, 1952|location=Wilmette, Illinois|page=63}} In 1953, he married actress Annette Carell, who died by suicide in 1967.{{cite news|last1=Sullivan|first1=Ed|title=Talk of the Town|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19984269/the_evening_sun/|work=The Evening Sun|date=31 August 1953|location=Baltimore, Maryland|page=14|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|title=Annette Carell|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001180/19671026/079/0009|work=The Stage and Television Today|issue=453|date=26 October 1967|page=9}} {{subscription required}} He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Sheila Brennan, whom he married in 1970.{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Gerald Savory|work=The Times|date=13 February 1996|location=London|page=17}}

Savory died in England on 9 February 1996.{{cite news|last1=Shorter|first1=Eric|title=Gerald Savory: Dramatics of Live Television|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20146504/|work=The Guardian|date=2 April 1996|page=13|via=Newspapers.com}}

Plays

George and Margaret 1937{{cite book

|last= Stevens

|first= Christopher

|title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams

|publisher= John Murray

|year= 2010

|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5

|page=48

}} (377 performances in the West End, filmed in 1940)

Hand in Glove 1944 with Charles K. Freeman based on his own novel Hughie Roddis{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=5886|title=Gerald Savory – Broadway Cast & Staff - IBDB|first=The Broadway|last=League|website=www.ibdb.com}}
A Likely Tale 1957{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/44v/a-likely-tale|title=A Likely Tale - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}
A Month of Sundays 1957
So Many Children 1959
Cup and Saucer 1961
Twinkling of an Eye 1965