Premium Bond: farewell to Òlm director Aewis <ilWert
The acclaimed director, who has died aged 97, learned to love cinema thanks to his Yiddish-speaking bubbe 1 5 2 4 3
LEWIS GILBERT was one of British cinema’s most celebrated talents.
Over a career spanning more than 50 years, and in excess of 40 movies, he made a star of Sir Michael Caine, directed Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore in three James Bond movies, and helped both Dame Julie Walters and Pauline Collins to best actress Oscar nominations, for Educating Rosa and Shirley Valentine respectively.
Perhaps the high point came in 1966 with Alfie, the comedy-drama that picked up a string of awards, as well as a best picture Oscar nomination — and made Sir Michael Caine’s reputation
Gilbert died last Friday at the age of 97. His son, John, said he had passed away in his sleep in Monaco, after “suffering from dementia for close to a decade”.
The director appeared destined for a showbusiness career from an early age. He hailed from an East End Jewish family, with relatives who were music hall and circus performers.
In an interview with the JC in 1995 he recalled: “My mother came from a very Orthodox East End Jewish family and one Christmas she entered a dance competition at the Lyceum and ended up winning a turkey, which my grandfather promptly threw out of the window.
“A couple of days later, this Irish woman turned up at the house — she had spotted my mother at the Lyceum — and tried to persuade my grandfather to let my mother tour with her act. She was only 12 or 13 at the time but, amazingly, he finally agreed and off she went.
“The Irish woman, who was married to a Jewish man, had 12 children all in the act, one of whom became my father. I remember the old girl well — she was a big influence on my life,” he said.
But it was his Orthodox, Yiddishspeaking grandmother who introduced him to the cinema. “She used to take me to the films, the silent films, but she couldn’t read the subtitles, so I had to read them for her,” he said. “I am in essence the product of two incredibly clashing cultures: the Irish lady whose father had been in the circus and the Strictly Orthodox, pious Jewish family.”
His father died when he was very young and his mother went into films, working as an extra. At first, Gilbert followed in his mother’s footsteps by starting his career as a child actor, but, by the age of 17, he knew he wanted to be behind the camera: “I didn’t want to be an actor; I wanted to be a director.”
His son, who collaborated on several movies with Gilbert, told the BBC: “He was a wonderful man with a great sense of humour. He was hard-working and we worked on many films together.”
Bond film producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said the director would be “sorely missed”.
“Lewis was a true gentleman. He made an enormous contribution to the British film industry as well as the Bond films. His films are not only loved by us but are considered classics within the series,” they said.
While Gilbert was always reluctant to pick a favourite from his films, he said he particularly enjoyed Bond. He worked on You Only Live Twice, starring Sir Sean Connery, in 1967, and a decade later was directing Sir Roger Moore in the role, in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.
But the director admitted that he had initially turned down the chance to join the franchise: “After I had directed Alfie,Cubby Broccoli [the producer] rang me and asked me if I’d like to do a Bond film. But I said that I didn’t think there was much else I could do with James Bond that hadn’t been done already and declined.
“The next day, he rang me back and said: ‘You’re wrong, because you’ve got the world’s biggest ready-made audience waiting to see what kind of mess you can make of it’. I thought that was true and very much enjoyed making them.” Gilbert was made a CBE in 1997 and a Fellow of the British Film Institute in 2001. He made his last film, Before You Go, in 2002, which reunited him with Dame Julie Walters.