# Peter Cotes

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Peter_Cotes
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Peter_Cotes.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cotes
> Source revision: 1316756871
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{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](/source/Maidenhead), [Berkshire](/source/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](/source/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](/source/The_Mousetrap)'', still playing at the [St Martins Theatre](/source/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](/source/Independent.co.uk) |date = 23 October 2011}}</ref> He wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of [Charlie Chaplin](/source/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](/source/Joan_Miller_(actress)) (widowed 1988).<ref name=independent/> He died from natural causes in [Chipping Norton](/source/Chipping_Norton), [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire), aged 86.<ref name=nytimes/>

==Cinema and television credits==
''''' As actor'''''
* ''Pal O'Mine'' (1936) ... Archie
* ''[Pastor Hall](/source/Pastor_Hall)'' (1940) ... Erwin Kohn
* ''[Fingers](/source/Fingers_(1941_film))'' (1941) (uncredited)
* ''[The Gentle Sex](/source/The_Gentle_Sex)'' (1943) (uncredited) ...Taffy
* ''[Don't Take It to Heart](/source/Don't_Take_It_to_Heart)'' (1944) ...Patterson, Junior Counsel
* ''[The Way to the Stars](/source/The_Way_to_the_Stars)'' (1945) ...Aircraftsman
* ''[Beware of Pity](/source/Beware_of_Pity)'' (1946) ...Kosma
* ''[The Upturned Glass](/source/The_Upturned_Glass)'' (1947) ... Questioner

''''' As writer '''''
* ''[London Playhouse](/source/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](/source/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](/source/BBC_Sunday_Night_Theatre)''
**''The Road'' (1953) (producer)
**''What the Public Wants'' (1959) (producer)
* ''[The World of Wooster](/source/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](/source/The_Right_Person)'' (1955)
* London Playhouse (3 episodes 1955–56)
**''Area Nine'' (1955)
**''Lady Must Sell'' (1955)
**''Yesterday's Mail'' (1956)
* ''[Sword of Freedom](/source/Sword_of_Freedom)'' (1 episode 1957)
**''Alessandro'' (1957)
* ''[The Young and the Guilty](/source/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](/source/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

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Peter Cotes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cotes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cotes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
