About
Alvin’s career as a writer, director and producer has spanned decades – starting with the early days of live black and white BBC television drama, working with leading actors in film and television and winning numerous awards in the process.
Highlights of his career include:
- 1954 - NATIONAL TV AWARD - 'Waiting for Gillian' (later re-produced in French)
- 1957 - LAUNCHES CAREER of SEAN CONNERY - 'Requiem For A Heavyweight'
- 1964 - LAUNCHES BBC 2 - first three plays on BBC2, 'The Seekers'
- 1967 - EMMY AWARD - 'Call Me Daddy'
- 1978 - LAUNCHES CAREER of ALAN RICKMAN - 'Romeo & Juliet'
- 1983 - SECOND EMMY AWARD & 3 BANFF AWARDS - 'A Voyage Round My Father'
- 1996 - ROYAL TV SOCIETY AWARD & BAFTA for SIMON RUSSELL BEALE - 'A Dance to the Music of Time'
- 1996 - First NOVEL '& GILLIAN' Translated into 10 languages
- 2007 - 'Baldwin Street' (novel)
- 2009 - 'The 7 Einsteins' (novel)
- 2011 - 'A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY' (Stage Musical) El Portal Theater, Hollywood
- 2021 - 'I'm Just the Guy who says Action' (autobiography)
Actors Alvin has worked with include:
- Laurence Olivier
- Sean Connery
- Michael Caine
- Michael Gambon
- David Threlfall
- Judi Dench
- Angela Lansbury
- John Geilgud
- Kenneth More
- Rex Harrison
- Roger Moore
- Henry Fonda
- Ava Gardner
- Shelley Winters
- Jeremy Irons
- Michael Crawford
- Jane Asher
- Peter Sellers
- Richard Harris
- Rod Steiger
.. and many, many more.
Feature Films (Director)
Year | Film | Cast |
|---|---|---|
1958 | Diana Dors, Herbert Lom | |
1959 | ||
1961 | ||
1964 | ||
1968 | ||
1969 | ||
1970 | Say Hello to Yesterday | |
1979 | ||
1980 | George Kennedy, Richard Cremma | |
1980 |
Television (Director)
Year | Title | Cast |
|---|---|---|
1953 | Holiday Girl | Mantovani Orchestra |
1953 | Starlight | Gordon Heath |
1953 | Strictly Personal (3 episodes) | Anne Crawford |
1953 | A Place of Execution (6 part seriel) | Derek Bond, Jack Watling |
1953 | The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill | Gordon Heath |
1954 | Willie the Squouse |
|
1954 | The Lover | |
1954 | Waiting for Gillian (National Television Award) | Patrick Barr, Anne Crawford |
1955 | Waiting for Gillian (French TV version from Paris, re-titled Un Chemin Dans La Nuit) |
|
1954 | The Face of Love | Peter Cushing, Mary Morris, George Rose |
1954 | Return to the River |
|
1954 | The Good Partners |
|
1954 | Tyrant's Tower |
|
1954 | Teckman Biography by Francis Durbridge (6 part seriel) |
|
1955 | Three Empty Rooms by Reginald Rose | Jacqueline Hill |
1955 | The New Executive |
|
1955 | The Hole in the Wall | Mervyn Johns, Sidney Tafler |
1955 | Thunder in the Realm (Canada) |
|
1955 | The Legend of Pepito | Sam Wanamaker, Jacqueline Hill |
1956 | The Reclining Figure | Donald Wolfit |
1956 | For the Defence |
|
1956 | The Condemned | Andre Morell, Sean Connery |
1956 | Epitaph | Trevor Howard, Leo McKern |
1956 | The Seat of the Scornful | Basil Sydney, Finlay Currie, Jacqueline Hill |
1956 | No Man's Land | Alec McCowen |
1957 | Dial 999 (3 episodes of the film series) |
|
1957 | The Staring Match |
|
1957 | Requiem for a Heavyweight | Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Warren Mitchell |
1957 | Our Town | Heather Sears |
1958 | The Caine Mutiny Court Martial |
|
1958 | Breakdown | Nigel Davenport, Roger Livesey |
1958 | Man in the Corner |
|
1959 | Velvet Alley | Sam Wanamaker, Jacqueline Hill |
1959 | The Ransom of Red Chief (USA) | William Bendix, Hans Conreid |
1959 | The Dark Side of the Earth |
|
1960 | The Leather Jungle | Freddie Mills, Neil McCallum |
1960 | A Town Has Turned to Dust | Rod Steiger |
1960 | Come In Razor Red | Richard Harris |
1961 | Joker's Justice | Dan Massey, Leo McKern |
1961 | The Room by Harold Pinter |
|
1961 | A Reason for Staying | Anthony Quayle, Denholm Elliot, Warren Mitchell |
1962 | Z Cars - On Watch | |
1962 | Heart to Heart by Terence Rattigan ('The Largest Theatre in the World', European Union television drama entry) | Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, Wendy Craig, Jean Marsh |
1962 | A Quiet Game of Cards | Bernard Braden |
1962 | Call Me Back | Alec McCowen |
1963 | The Remarkable Incident at Carsons Corners |
|
1964 | The Seekers | Michael Bryant |
1964 | The Blackpool Trilogy | Julia Foster, Nicola Pagett |
1965 | Court Martial (series) | Peter Graves, Bradford Dillman |
1966 | You'll Know Me by the Stars in My Eyes | Jane Asher, Nigel Patrick, Phylis Calvert |
1966 | The Move After Checkmate | Michael Crawford |
1966 | The Sweet War Man | Kenneth More |
1967 | The Girl | Joss Ackland, Brenda Bruce |
1967 | The Man Who Understood Women | Jane Asher |
1967 | Call Me Daddy (Emmy Award) | Donald Pleasence |
1968 | Murder | Peter Egan |
1971 | A Kiss is Just a Kiss | Keir Dullyea |
1971 | Summer and Smoke | Lee Remick |
1972 | Blur & Blank via Cleckheaton | Denholm Elliot |
1972 | A Man About a Dog | Richard Johnson, Kate O'Mara |
1972 | The Adventures of Don Quixote | Rex Harrison, Frank Finlay, Rosemary Leach |
1973 | Shadow of a Gunman | Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack |
1973 | Harlequinade | Edith Evans, Denholm Elliott, Joyce Redman |
1974 | Cheap in August | Leo McKern, Virginia McKenna |
1974 | Jan & Tony, "Rooms" |
|
1974 | How to Impeach A President (USA) |
|
1974 | A Brisk Dip Sagaciously Considered |
|
1974 | Shall We Have a King?(USA) |
|
1975 | Husband to Mrs Fitzherbert | Nicholas Jones |
1975 | The Nicest Man in the World | Celia Johnson |
1975 | In Praise of Love | Kenneth More, Claire Bloom |
1975 | The October Crisis (Canada) |
|
1975 | Lulu Street (Canada) |
|
1975 | The Liberty Tree | Jeremy Irons, Julian Fellowes |
1976 | The Killers |
|
1976 | Mrs Amsworth | Glynis Johns |
1976 | The Promise |
|
1976 | The Dame Of Sark | Celia Johnson |
1977 | The Kitchen | Peter Egan, Sinéad Cusack |
1978 | Romeo & Juliet | Alan Rickman, Celia Johnson, Michael Hordern, Jacqueline Hill |
1980 | The Quiet Days of Mrs Stafford | |
1981 | The Breadwinner | Michael Gambon |
1982 | Disraeli | Richard Pasco |
1982 | A Voyage Round My Father (Emmy Award) | Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Jane Asher |
1983 | Fireworks For Elspeth | Fiona Shaw |
1983 | Mr Halpern & Mr Johnson | Laurence Olivier, Jackie Gleason |
1983 | A Talent For Murder | Laurence Olivier, Angela Lansbury |
1984 | The First Olympics, Athens 1896 | Angela Lansbury, Louis Jordan, David Caruso |
1985 | Paradise Postponed (series) | Zoe Wanamaker, David Threlfall, Michael Hordern, etc. |
1989 | Haunting Harmony |
|
1990 | Gas & Candles |
|
1991/1992 | Sam Saturday (Series) |
|
1992 | The Best Of Friends | John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Patrick McGoohan |
1997 | A Dance to the Music of Time (Series) | Miranda Richardson, Simon Russell Beale, Alan Bennet, John Gielgud |
Theatre (Director)
Year | Play | Cast |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic | Richard Pasco, Barbara Leigh Hunt, Margaret Courtney, etc. |
| 1982 | Celia Johnson Theatre fund, Aldwych Theatre | Ralph Richardson, Jeremy Irons, Richard Briers, etc. |
| 1984 | Cruise Charity, Albert Hall | Richard Briers, John Gielgud, Penelope Keith, Wayne Sleep, etc. |
| 1995 | Stage Struck by Simon Gray, The Mill at Sonning | Nicholas Jones |
2001-2002 | Too Marvelous For Words, The Story of lyricist Johnny Mercer (writer and director) The Mill at Sonning | |
| 2002 | Too Marvelous For Words, King's Head Theatre, London | |
| 2002 | I Remember You by Bernard Slade, The Mill at Sonning | |
| 2005 | Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan, The Mill at Sonning | Anthony Valentine, Glynis Barber |
| 2007 | Same Time Next Year by Bernard Slade, The Mill at Sonning | (Steven Pacey, Shona Lindsay) |
| 2009 | A Sentimental Journey, The Story of Doris Day. The Mill at Sonning | Sally Hughes, Glyn Kerslake |
| 2010 | A Sentimental Journey, The Story of Doris Day. Wilton's, London | |
| 2011 | The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (The World's first stage adaptation of the famous crime novel. Adapted with his son John D. Rakoff) The Mill at Sonning |
Writing (Television, Films, Plays, Novels)
Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
1953 | The Troubled Air | Adaptor (TV) |
1953 | A Flight of Fancy | Writer (TV) |
1953 | Our Town | Adaptor (TV) |
1954 | Waiting for Gillian | Co-Adaptor (TV) |
1958 | The Caine Mutiny Court Martial | Adaptor (TV) |
1970 | Say Hello To Yesterday | Writer (Film) |
1973 | A Man About Dog | Adaptor (TV) |
1973 | Shadow Of A Gunman | Adaptor (TV) |
1978 | City On Fire | Co-Writer (Film) |
1991/1992 | Sam Saturday | Creator (TV series) |
1996 | & Gillian | Novel (Little Brown) |
2001/2 | Too Marvelous For Words | Writer (Musical) |
2008 | Baldwin Street | Novel (Bunim & Bannigan, New York) |
2012 | The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler | Stage Adaptator |
2014 | The Seven Einsteins | Novel (Author House) |