Gerald Savory


Gerald Douglas Savory was an English writer and television producer specialising in comedies.

Biography

The son of Kenneth Douglas Savory and actress Grace Lane, he was educated at Bradfield College and worked as a stockbroker's clerk before turning to the stage, first as an actor then a writer. His 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. It then transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 86 performances, and was later filmed. His earliest work in the film industry was as a dialogue writer for director Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent.
He 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 five episodes of the unsuccessful series Churchill's People and six of the eight episodes of Love in a Cold Climate for Thames Television.

Personal life

Savory was married four times but had no children other than a stepson by his fourth wife. His first marriage, to writer Elizabeth "Teo" Dunbar, ended in divorce. In 1950, he married American actress Althea Murphy, who died of leukemia in 1952. In 1953, he married actress Annette Carell, who died by suicide in 1967. He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Sheila Brennan, whom he married in 1970.
He died in England on 9 February 1996.

Plays