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Kevin Billington

{{Short description|British film director (1934–2021)}}

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{{Infobox person

| name = Kevin Billington

| image = Rachel en Kevin Billington (1968).jpg

| caption = Billington and his wife Rachel in 1968

| birth_date = {{birth date|1934|06|12|df=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|12|13|1934|06|12|df=y}}

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| alma_mater = Queens' College, Cambridge

| occupation = Film/theatre director

| spouse = {{marriage|Lady Rachel Billington (née Pakenham)|1967}}

| children = 4

| parents =

| relatives =

}}

Kevin Billington (12 June 1934 – 13 December 2021) was a British film director, who worked in the theatre, film and television from the 1960s.

Biography

The son of a factory worker,Fred Hauptfuhrer [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20076087,00.html "The Literary Longfords Include Lord Porn, Mum and Antonia—Now Make Way for Sister Rachel"] People, 13:12, 24 March 1980 and educated at Bryanston School and Queens' College, Cambridge,{{cite web | url=http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/page-242 | title=Eminent alumni | Queens' College }} early in his career he worked for the BBC as a radio producer in Leeds (1959–60) and then for television in Manchester (1960–61) before working on the early evening Tonight and on documentaries for the BBC and ATV until 1967.[http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/b/17304/Kevin+BILLINGTON.aspx "Kevin Billington, Esq Authorised Biography"], Debrett's Billington's films include The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), which stars Peter Cook, while his theatre work includes several productions of plays by Harold Pinter, who was married to his wife's sister, Lady Antonia Fraser.{{cite news |title=Kevin Billington, director who made his mark with radical documentaries in the 1960s and later with polished BBC adaptations and theatre – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/12/16/kevin-billington-director-made-mark-radical-documentaries-1960s/ |access-date=17 December 2021 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=16 December 2021}}

Billington's television work includes Henry VIII (1979) for the BBC Television Shakespeare project, one of the best received productions in the series.Michael Brooke [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1023170/ "Henry VIII On Screen"], BFI screenonline He also directed The Good Soldier (Granada 1981), based on the novel by Ford Madox Ford, and A Time to Dance (BBC 1992), adapted by Melvyn Bragg from his own work of fiction.Jerry Roberts [https://books.google.com/books?id=kW8j6sHvrewC&pg=PA43 Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors], Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009, p.43

He was married to Lady Rachel Billington; having met while they were both working in New York, they married the following year in 1967.Mario Conte [https://archive.today/20130813131933/http://www.messengersaintanthony.com/messaggero/pagina_articolo.asp?IDX=471IDRX=130 "God & I: Rachel Billington"], Messenger of St Anthony, September 2009 The couple had four children and five grandchildren.

Billington died from cancer on 13 December 2021, at the age of 87.{{cite news |title=Kevin Billington obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/kevin-billington-obituary-9lc5cn8zc |access-date=31 January 2022 |work=The Times |date=31 January 2022}}

Filmography as director

References

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External links

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Category:1934 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge

Category:English film directors

Category:People educated at Bryanston School

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