Director Frith Banbury dies at 96

Published Friday 16 May 2008 at 11:00 by Patrick Newley

Frith Banbury, one of the British theatre’s most respected directors, has died at the age of 96.

In a career that spanned 70 years, he worked with and promoted playwrights such as Wynyard Browne, Rodney Ackland, Terence Rattigan, Emlyn Williams and Robert Bolt and directed stars such as Michael Redgrave, Peggy Ashcroft, Rex Harrison, Ingrid Bergman and Vincent Price.

At the age of 91, he directed the UK tour of the Rodney Ackland classic The Old Ladies, starring Sian Phillips. He had first directed the play at The Old Vic in 1953.

Born in Plymouth in 1912, Banbury studied at RADA before appearing as an actor in small roles in the West End. In 1947 he returned to RADA as a teacher and then decided on a career as a director.

He went on to direct many major West End premieres including NC Hunter’s Waters of the Moon, Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea, and Robert Bolt’s Flowering Cherry.

Many of his West End productions of the forties and fifties were presented by HM Tennent, then Britain’s most powerful theatre management.

He died on May 14, 2008. A full obituary will appear in The Stage newspaper.