{{Short description|British actor and director (1912–1998)}} {{Use British English|date=June 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} '''Peter Cotes''' (19 March 1912 – 10 November 1998) was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fa70004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202072710/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fa70004|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 February 2017|title=Peter Cotes}}</ref>
Cotes was born as '''Sydney Boulting'''<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=352 }}</ref> in Maidenhead, Berkshire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/c24b0ef9-2614-3d8f-a0c3-398799ca4a10|title = Peter Cotes Papers – Archives Hub}}</ref> His brothers John and Roy Boulting became noted film makers.<ref name="Stevens"/> He began as an actor, before concentrating on theatre production.<ref name=nytimes>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/18/theater/peter-cotes-86-producer-and-director-of-mousetrap.html|title = Peter Cotes, 86, Producer and Director of 'Mousetrap'|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 18 November 1998|last1 = Gussow|first1 = Mel}}</ref> He was the original director of the world's longest-running production ''The Mousetrap'', still playing at the St Martins Theatre, London.<ref name=independent>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-peter-cotes-1184306.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-peter-cotes-1184306.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title = Obituary: Peter Cotes|website=Independent.co.uk |date = 23 October 2011}}</ref> He wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of Charlie Chaplin in 1951.<ref name=nytimes/>
Cotes travelled to Australia in 1961 to direct some television plays. He was fired during the filming of ''Bitter Harvest''.<ref name="munro">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=6 January 2024|access-date=6 January 2024|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/girl-next-door-or-girl-gone-bad-the-janet-munro-story/|title=Girl-next-door or girl-gone-bad: The Janet Munro Story}}</ref>
He was twice married: Myfanwy Jones (marriage annulled) and Joan Miller (widowed 1988).<ref name=independent/> He died from natural causes in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, aged 86.<ref name=nytimes/>
==Cinema and television credits== ''''' As actor''''' * ''Pal O'Mine'' (1936) ... Archie * ''Pastor Hall'' (1940) ... Erwin Kohn * ''Fingers'' (1941) (uncredited) * ''The Gentle Sex'' (1943) (uncredited) ...Taffy * ''Don't Take It to Heart'' (1944) ...Patterson, Junior Counsel * ''The Way to the Stars'' (1945) ...Aircraftsman * ''Beware of Pity'' (1946) ...Kosma * ''The Upturned Glass'' (1947) ... Questioner
''''' As writer ''''' * ''London Playhouse'' (3 episodes, 1955–56) **''Lady Must Sell'' (1955) (adaptation) **''Summer in Normandy'' (1955) (production supervisor) **''The Guv'nor'' (1956) TV episode (production supervisor) * ITV Playhouse (1 episode 1956) **''Ashes in the Wind'' (1956) (adaptation) * ''ITV Play of the Week'' (1 episode 1965) **''Winter in Ischia'' (1965) (television adaptation)
'''''As producer''''' * ''London Playhouse'' (5 episodes 1955–56) **''The Inward Eye'' (1955) (producer) **''Lady Must Sell'' (1955) (producer) **''Fighting Chance'' (1955) (producer) **''Adeline Girard'' (1955) (supervising producer) **''Yesterday's Mail'' (1956) (producer) * ITV Playhouse **''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1956) (producer) * ''BBC Sunday Night Theatre'' **''The Road'' (1953) (producer) **''What the Public Wants'' (1959) (producer) * ''The World of Wooster'' **''Jeeves and the Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustice'' (1966) (associate producer) **''Jeeves and the Indian Summer of an Uncle'' (1966) (associate producer)
'''''As director''''' * BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1 episode 1953) **''The Road'' (1953) (uncredited) * ''The Right Person'' (1955) * London Playhouse (3 episodes 1955–56) **''Area Nine'' (1955) **''Lady Must Sell'' (1955) **''Yesterday's Mail'' (1956) * ''Sword of Freedom'' (1 episode 1957) **''Alessandro'' (1957) * ''The Young and the Guilty'' (1958) * ITV Television Playhouse (5 episodes 1956–58) **''Ashes in the Wind'' (1956) **''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1956) **''The Young and the Guilty'' (1956) **''Not Proven'' (1957) **''Look in Any Window'' (1958) *''Shadow of the Vine'' (1962) * ITV Play of the Week (1 episode 1964) **''The Offence'' (1964) (TV episode) * ''Janie Jones'', at the New Theatre, London, (opened 15 July 1968)
==Selected theatre credits== * ''The Mousetrap'' (1952, director of original London stage production)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0182818}} * {{IBDB name|14506}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotes, Peter}} Category:1912 births Category:1998 deaths Category:English male film actors Category:English television directors Category:English theatre directors Category:English television producers Category:English theatre managers and producers Category:20th-century English male actors Category:Place of birth missing Category:20th-century English male writers Category:20th-century English businesspeople