Remembering Alvin Rakoff (1927-2024)

Image credit: Evelyn Klebanoff

“Alvin Rakoff loved the craft of directing. He got his start in TV through the BBC’s directors’ training course, becoming the youngest producer director in the BBC drama department, and was always keen to embrace new technologies as they emerged.

As well as being a multi-award-winning director, producer and writer, Alvin was a former Directors’ Guild of Great Britain president. Through his work with the DGGB, he championed the creative rights of directors, work which Directors UK continues today.”

— Directors UK CEO Andy Harrower

Alvin Rakoff was a multi-award-winning writer, director and producer of more than one hundred television, film and stage productions as well as novels. His longstanding career began with the early days of live black and white BBC television drama and lasted an almost unprecedented seven decades, with Alvin continuing to work into his nineties.

Born in Toronto on 6th February 1927, Alvin was the third of seven children to father, Sam and his mother, Pearl (née Isenberg) who owned a dry goods shop in Baldwin Street. It was a deprived upbringing with the family poverty stricken following the Great Depression in 1929. Later he would write about these experiences in his second novel, Baldwin Street. 

At the age of six, Alvin was taken to the cinema by his parents for the very first time. The experience ignited his interest in storytelling from that moment. By the age of sixteen he began writing seriously.

After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Alvin’s early days as a reporter helped to hone his writing skills, thrashing out thousands of words a day on news stories. Over time, Alvin found this work could easily dry up leaving him without a steady income. As a result he had to seriously reconsider his vocation. 

Having again fallen on hard times, Alvin along with his brother, Syd decided to take over the family shop, which was “always failing…” as Alvin later put it, “my father was always going bankrupt.” That very weekend Alvin took a trip to New York for a last minute break before settling into his new job. It was here, whilst watching Marlon Brando on stage in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire that Alvin’s life changed forever. His performance electrified Alvin. It was indeed revolutionary. Brando’s style of acting as well as the character he portrayed was certainly revolutionary and marked a dramatic shift away from the stock ’man in a shirt and a tie’ characters of the period that stood for the dominant middle class. This was “T-Shirt acting” as Alvin called it. Brando was a look at the working class and his performance was very much “for the people.” Having left the theatre that day, Alvin made the decision there and then to try instead to make it in showbusiness. He would not look back. 

Alvin’s first job was as a writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which he enjoyed but he longed to direct. The CBC sponsored Alvin to visit the UK – “the place where TV started,” as Alvin called it. In 1952, he sold his car to buy a boat ticket from Canada to the UK. Within days of arriving, Alvin sold his first script to the BBC, the UK’s only television broadcaster at the time. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Alvin became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department. 

As Alvin remembered: “I trained at the BBC as a director/producer. In those days, the two roles were combined. And the BBC insisted that trainees be knowledgeable in all forms of television. I worked on horse shows, cricket matches, variety, stand-up, big bands, small bands... Perhaps that’s why it seemed logical in later productions to use different techniques.” 

Waiting For Gillian (1954) was one of Alvin’s very first productions. It was a play that had failed on the stage but remarkably became a success on the television screen. So successful in fact it was his adaptation that gained a National Television Award for Best Play. He was then invited to Paris to direct and produce it – live and in French. 

In Requiem For A Heavyweight (1957), Alvin took a chance on an a yet unknown actor, giving Sean Connery his first leading role (at the suggestion of Alvin’s soon-to-be-wife and actress, Jaqueline Hill). A young, equally unknown Michael Caine was also cast as a background boxer. Alvin had to fight off such opposition to the casting even had a visit from the BBC’s then Head of Drama, Michael Barry whom he had to convince Connery was the right man for the job. The risky casting paid off, Requiem For A Heavyweight received an exceptional response with the Evening Standard critic remarking: “My hat is off to Alvin Rakoff and his entire company” whilst the Daily Mirror reported that it “opened with a fight sequence that made my 17 inch screen seem yards wide”. 

A few years later, Alvin received a telephone call from Harry Saltzman and Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, whom Alvin later recalled, informed him that they were considering Patrick McGoohan, Roger Moore and Sean Connery for the part of James Bond. Alvin having worked all three gave his opinion. The best actor was McGoohan, the most affable was Moore, but the one he felt they should cast was Connery. The rest is history. 

Alvin became a leading light in the early days of television drama, winning awards and international acclaim and collaborating with the leading actors and writers of the day. He was selected to represent the best of British talent on the international stage and to direct the very first productions to launch BBC2. He often produced deeply thought-provoking drama – dealing with issues such as racism, the Holocaust and feminism that are as topical today as they were untouched then. He pioneered and pushed the available technology to the full yet kept his fast-paced and sensitive style.

All this was achieved under difficult circumstances. Most significantly, at the time television was broadcast live – nothing could be pre-recorded. There was no room for error. Cameras, usually four in number; and sound booms, usually two; and lights, always dozens; and multiple sets; and not forgetting other crew members, designers, set dressers, wardrobe, stage managers, floor managers, studio managers, etc; and last – but hardly least – the actors. Each aware of precise split-second positioning throughout the hours-long dramas as planned by the director. Live television was not for the faint-hearted. 

Alvin later remarked: “People nowadays probably think early BBC drama was bland, saccharine and not worth the time of day. But actually there were far more hard-hitting, weighty, dramatic works being produced then than probably at any time in television history. In the early 1950s there was a backlash against Hollywood’s ’tinsel town‘ movies and West End ’living room‘ plays. A tangible move began towards realism, spearheaded by television dramas.” 

In 1962, the BBC chose Alvin to direct and produce the UK‘s entry for ‘The Largest Theatre in the World’. This European-wide initiative was designed to highlight leading talent from countries across Europe. The UK‘s entry, Heart To Heart, written by Terence Rattigan, was viewed by an estimated audience of eighty million. The production starred Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, and Wendy Craig. The Sunday Telegraph said that it was “Towering head and shoulders over most TV drama,” whilst the Sunday Post wrote it was “A masterpiece of writing, production and acting.” Alvin would go on to work with Kenneth More in two other productions, The Comedy Man (1964), and In Praise of Love (1976) also written by Rattigan, and co-starring Claire Bloom.

Alvin would win his first Emmy Award for Call Me Daddy (1967), starring Donald Pleasance and Judy Cornwell. This two-hander was initially little more than a sketch but in rehearsal it was soon enlarged into a full-length television play by Donald, Julie, and Alvin. It went on to become one of the most successful UK television plays ever transmitted, garnering international plaudits. It would transfer later to the silver screen when it was re-titled Hoffman (1970) and starred Peter Sellers and Sinead Cusack. Alvin and Peter became close friends during the making of the film, with Peter, an audio tech enthusiast, even designing and wiring in a sound system in Alvin’s recently bought house in Chiswick. Hoffman holds one of the longest takes in cinema. The camera travels through six sets, touches 118 different positions and the shot lasts more than eight minutes. Sadly, upon completion, Peter viewed the finished film and felt it was far too close to him as an individual than a character he was portraying on screen. He turned his back on Hoffman and Alvin. The pain this caused Alvin remained with him for years to come. 

1973 saw the release of The Adventures Of Don Quioxte, starring Rex Harrison and Frank Finlay. This rendition of the classic novel sees Harrison as Don Quixote and Finlay as Sancho Pancho. In contrast to live television it was shot all on film under a searing Spanish sun in La Mancha, in locations indicated by the Cerventes novel. The Los Angeles Times reported: “There are scenes that Picasso might have painted... a splendid, robust, rich, and varied experience, funny thoughtful and provocative. An extraordinary production. Everything about it cries for massive canvas.”

Over the years, Alvin worked with many of the world's most prestigious leading talent including Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliot, Julian Fellows, Henry Fonda, Edward Fox, Michael Gambon, Ava Gardner, John Gielgud, Elliott Gould, Richard Harris, Michael Horden, Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, Patrick McGoohan, Roger Moore, Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Jean Simmons, Rod Steiger, Sam Wanamaker, Shelley Winters. 

Alvin also nurtured many emerging talents during his long and illustrious career including Simon Russell Beale (whom Alvin cast in his first television work in 1997’s A Dance to the Music of Time, which would go on to win him a BAFTA for Best Actor), Michael Crawford, Judi Dench, Jeremy Irons, Alan Rickman, (whom Alvin cast in his first professional role with the 1978 production of Romeo and Juliet), David Threlfall and Zoë Wanamaker.

Out of all of Alvin’s work it was the 1982 drama A Voyage Round My Father with Laurence Olivier (Alvin’s childhood hero) that stayed his favourite until the end. Written by John Mortimer and co-starring Alan Bates and Jane Asher, The Financial Times called the production “A work of great power.” A Voyage Round My Father would also gift Alvin with his second Emmy Award.

Alvin and Olivier worked extremely well together so much so they would collaborate on two other occasions, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983) and A Talent For Murder (also 1983). 

As well as a writer, director and producer of screen and stage work, Alvin was also an author of three incredibly successful and three novels. His first titled & Gillian received critical praise upon publication in 1996 and was later translated into ten languages. Alvin published the first volume of a long-awaited series of autobiographies with I'm Just The Guy Who Says Action in 2021. It received great critical and public praise, with Stephen Fry calling it “an absolute blast”. The Second volume, I Need Another Take, Darling, was published the following year. “A mind as sharp an arrow” as his Publicist Nick Pourgourides remarked, Alvin continued working on ideas for new projects all the way into 2024, his final, 97th year. His extraordinary mind remained active even though his body was failing with old age. 

Alvin Rakoff passed away peacefully 12th October 2024, surrounded by his loving family in the same, beautiful old house in Chiswick he had bought back in 1971. He is survived by his devoted wife of 30 years, Sally Hughes, Managing Director of The Mill at Sonning Theatre, and two children from his first marriage to the late Jacqueline Hill (d. 1993): Dr. Sasha Rakoff, a charity executive and John Rakoff, a film producer. His stepson Adam Rolston is co-managing director and co-artistic director of The Mill at Sonning with Sally Hughes, and a film producer. Alvin has five grandchildren and one surviving sibling, his sister Lorraine, a retired interior designer who still lives in Toronto. Alvin was also the former President of the Directors Guild. 

Since Alvin’s passing, tributes have been pouring in… 

Stephen Fry said: “Alvin Rakoff was a giant of film, theatre and TV. His Midas touch with spotting and fostering talent introduced the world to some of the last century’s greatest stars. Typically he was working on a screenplay right up to the last.”

Dame Judi Dench commented: “I have such wonderful memories of Alvin - both being directed by him and seeing him at The Mill. A very endearing person.”

Michael Crawford remarked: “Alvin was a beautifully sensitive director. I feel very fortunate to have worked with him. He so rightly, had a wonderful career.”

Dame Sheila Hancock remarked: “I admired him so much. He was a fantastic innovative director.”

Claire Bloom said: “I have very fond memories of Alvin as a man and as a fine director.” 

Wendy Craig commented: “I felt very proud to be asked to play a role In Heart to Heart... A young and highly respected young Canadian, Alvin Rakoff directed it with passion and flair. He was inspiring to work with, as well as patient and kind and totally dedicated to writing and directing drama. He was still working in his nineties at The Mill at Sonning, and he will be much missed by all who knew him and had the pleasure of working with him.” 

Zoë Wanamaker remarked: “He was extremely encouraging towards me during filming of Paradise Postponed (1986). He treated me as if I were a ‘Proper Actress’ who understood his directorial language which gave me a confidence that I’d not experienced before on television. Alvin liked actors and great scripts. Then in a Dance To The Music Of Time which he produced; we became friends.”