{{Short description|English screenwriter and TV producer (1909–1996)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Use British English|date=December 2015}} {{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)<!-- IMDb has 6 February --> was an English writer and television producer who specialised in comedies.<ref name=bfi>{{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}}</ref><ref name=allmovie/>
==Early life== The son of Kenneth Douglas Savory and actress Grace Lane (1877–1956),<ref name="WWIT">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Shivas">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name=allmovie>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/gerald-savory-p118821|title=Gerald Savory - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/q34/gerald-savory|title=Gerald Savory - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref>
==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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/3a5/george-margaret/production/7df|title=Production of George & Margaret - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref> It then transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 86 performances, and was later filmed.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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)}}</ref> His earliest work in the film industry was as a dialogue writer for director Alfred Hitchcock's ''Young and Innocent'' (1937).<ref name=bfi/>
Savory lived in the USA in the 1940s and 50s writing for film and television, and became an American citizen.<ref name=allmovie/> 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.<ref name=Shivas /> He produced the unsuccessful series ''Churchill's People'' (1975–76) for the BBC and ''Love in a Cold Climate'' (1980) for Thames Television.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>
==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,<ref name=WWIT /> ended in divorce. In 1950, he married American actress Althea Murphy (1916–1952), who died of leukemia in 1952.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> In 1953, he married actress Annette Carell, who died by suicide in 1967.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> He was survived by his fourth wife, actress Sheila Brennan, whom he married in 1970.<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Gerald Savory|work=The Times|date=13 February 1996|location=London|page=17}}</ref><ref name="WWIT" />
Savory died in England on 9 February 1996.<ref name="Shorter">{{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}}</ref>
==Plays== *''George and Margaret'' 1937<ref name="Stevens">{{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 }}<!--|accessdate=13 June 2012--></ref> (377 performances in the West End, filmed in 1940) *''Hand in Glove'' 1944 with Charles K. Freeman based on his own novel ''Hughie Roddis''<ref>{{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}}</ref> *''A Likely Tale'' 1957<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/44v/a-likely-tale|title=A Likely Tale - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref> *''A Month of Sundays'' 1957 *''So Many Children'' 1959 *''Cup and Saucer'' 1961 *''Twinkling of an Eye'' 1965
==Novels== *''Hughie Roddis'' 1942 *''Behold This Dreamer'' 1943
==Television== *''South'', 24 November 1959, ITV Play of the Week (adaptation) *''Count Dracula'', 1977 *''Mapp and Lucia,'' Series One 1985; Series Two 1986
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0767902}} *{{IBDB name|5886}}
{{Authority control}}
{{More categories |date=May 2024}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Savory, Gerald}} Category:Place of death missing Category:1909 births Category:1996 deaths Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century English male writers Category:20th-century English novelists Category:BBC executives Category:BBC television producers Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:English male novelists Category:ITV people Category:Novelists from London Category:Television producers from London Category:People educated at Bradfield College