Peter Yates
Birth : 1929-07-24, Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK
Death : 2011-01-09
History
Peter James Yates (24 July 1929 – 9 January 2011) was an English film director and producer. He was born in Aldershot, Hampshire.
The son of an army officer, he attended Charterhouse School as a boy, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked for some years as an actor, director and stage manager. In the 1950s he started in the movie industry as a dubbing assistant and later an assistant director for Tony Richardson.
Summer Holiday (1963), his first film as director, was a "lightweight" vehicle for Cliff Richard. Yates had directed the original Royal Court production of N. F. Simpson's play One Way Pendulum and was chosen to make the film version released in 1964. Robbery (1967), a crime thriller, is a fictionalised version of the Great Train Robbery of 1963. This led to Bullitt (1968), of which Bruce Weber has written, "Mr. Yates’s reputation probably rests most securely on “Bullitt” (1968), his first American film — and indeed, on one particular scene, an extended car chase that instantly became a classic."
Yates was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Direction for Bullitt (1968). Yates produced and directed Breaking Away (1979), which was nominated for five Academy Awards ("Oscars") including Best Director and Best Film for Yates. Yates also produced and directed The Dresser (1983), which was an adaptation of the Ronald Harwood stage play. The film received seven BAFTA and five Oscar nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film and for Best Direction and the Academy Award for Best Film and for Best Director for Yates. The Dresser was also entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.
Yates died in London on 9 January 2011. He was 81 years old.
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Self – Interviewee
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The African Queen and King Vidor's War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years.
Self
Friends, family, co-stars and admirers of actor Steve McQueen talk about his life and his movie career.
Director
Four friends with one dark secret they could never outrun.
Director
The classic tale of a man's dream, his epic journey, and one true love.
Director
A bachelor afraid of marriage angers his long-time girlfriend by buying a splendid townhouse just for himself, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of a famous theatrical couple, who teach him about love and commitment.
Thanks
When professors discover that an aimless janitor is also a math genius, a therapist helps the young man confront the demons that are holding him back.
Director
An Irish lad (Matt Keeslar) who fled from his oppressive, widowed father (Albert Finney) falls for a girl (Victoria Smurfit) from an affluent family.
Director
An elderly, yet young-at-heart man, moves in with his grandson, and both their lives turn upside-down.
Executive Producer
A mysterious new shop opens in a small town which always seems to stock the deepest desires of each shopper, with a price far heavier than expected.
Director
Year of the Comet is a 1992 romantic comedy adventure film about the pursuit of the most valuable bottle of wine in history. The title refers to the year it was bottled, 1811, which was known for the Great Comet of 1811, and also as one of the best years in history for European wine.
Director
Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.
Producer
Emily Crane is fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, and takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. One day her attention is drawn to a noisy argument being conducted largely in German in a neighbouring house, the more so since one of those involved is her main senator prosecutor. Starting to look into things, she gradually enlists the help of FBI officer Cochran who was initially detailed to check her out. Just as well when things turn nasty
Director
Emily Crane is fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, and takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. One day her attention is drawn to a noisy argument being conducted largely in German in a neighbouring house, the more so since one of those involved is her main senator prosecutor. Starting to look into things, she gradually enlists the help of FBI officer Cochran who was initially detailed to check her out. Just as well when things turn nasty
Director
When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson, a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger, a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.
Director
Nick is a writer in New York when he gets posted to a bureau in Greece. He has waited 30 years for this. He wants to know why his mother was killed in the civil war years earlier. In a parallel plot line we see Nick as a young boy and his family as they struggle to survive in the occupied Greek hillside. The plot lines converge as Nick's investigations bring him closer to the answers.
Producer
In a touring Shakespearean theater group, a backstage hand - the dresser, is devoted to the brilliant but tyrannical head of the company. He struggles to support the deteriorating star as the company struggles to carry on during the London blitz. The pathos of his backstage efforts rival the pathos in the story of Lear and the Fool that is being presented on-stage, as the situation comes to a crisis.
Director
In a touring Shakespearean theater group, a backstage hand - the dresser, is devoted to the brilliant but tyrannical head of the company. He struggles to support the deteriorating star as the company struggles to carry on during the London blitz. The pathos of his backstage efforts rival the pathos in the story of Lear and the Fool that is being presented on-stage, as the situation comes to a crisis.
Director
A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet.
Producer
Daryll Deever is a janitor in an office building in New York, and a big fan of TV news reporter, Tony Sokolow. When a rich man is murdered in Daryll's building, Tony comes to cover the story and Daryll introduces himself to her. Thinking he may know something about the crime, Tony pursues him, and in order to keep seeing her, he pretends that he does. As the two of them play this game, the killers are watching, assuming that Daryll and Tony both know more about the crime than they do.
Director
Daryll Deever is a janitor in an office building in New York, and a big fan of TV news reporter, Tony Sokolow. When a rich man is murdered in Daryll's building, Tony comes to cover the story and Daryll introduces himself to her. Thinking he may know something about the crime, Tony pursues him, and in order to keep seeing her, he pretends that he does. As the two of them play this game, the killers are watching, assuming that Daryll and Tony both know more about the crime than they do.
Producer
Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his 3 friends, The comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends and parents annoyance.
Director
Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his 3 friends, The comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends and parents annoyance.
Director
A pair of young vacationers are involved in a dangerous conflict with treasure hunters when they discover a way into a deadly wreck in Bermuda waters.
Producer
Mother, Jugs and Speed work for a ambulance company competing for a L.A. city contract.
Director
Mother, Jugs and Speed work for a ambulance company competing for a L.A. city contract.
Director
Henry is a woman who would do anything for her husband Pete, including borrow money so he has a chance of making his dreams come true. But now there's the loan sharks to deal with...
Director
An aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously supplying arms to his bank robbing chums.
Director
Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...
Director
Murphy is the sole survivor of his crew, that has been massacred by a German U-Boat in the closing days of World War II. He is rescued, and ends up at a forgotten mission station near the mouth of the Orinoco, and begins to plot his vengeance. He wishes to sink the U-Boat by means of any method imaginable to him, and sets about to make the courageous attempt, assisted by Louis, the administrator of the local oil company.
Director
John and Mary meet in a singles bar, sleep together, and spend the next day getting to know each other.
Director
Secret agent John Drake (aka Danger Man) goes to Japan to infiltrate a secret society that specializes in murder. - This film was originally conceived as part of the fourth season of the "Secret Agent" TV series. However, this was the first episode of the season and Patrick McGoohan quit shortly after filming it. Thus it was decided to package a double-episode from a TV show as a full-length movie. Patrick McGoohan quit "Secret Agent" to create "The Prisoner" TV series. - The original individual episodes of "Danger Man" that made up this movie were released for the first time on video in the 1990s. - The original two one-hour episodes that made up this film were broadcast in limited fashion in the UK in 1968.
Self
A behind the scenes look at the making of the movie Bullitt with a strong focus on the attention to details taken. It features some of the preparations made before shooting began, but is mostly focused on the onsite filming locations which brings a strong amount of reality to the film as the title suggests.
Director
Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.
Screenplay
In this fictionalised account of the Great Train Robbery, career criminal Paul Clifton plans an audacious crime: the robbery of a mail train carrying millions in cash.
Director
In this fictionalised account of the Great Train Robbery, career criminal Paul Clifton plans an audacious crime: the robbery of a mail train carrying millions in cash.
Director
A study of absurdity in a suburban family: father recreates the Old Bailey in the living room while the son teaches speak-your-weight machines to sing in the attic.
Director
1960s musical showcasing Cliff Richard. Four bus mechanics working for London Transport strike up a deal with the company: they do up a one of the company's legendary red double decker buses and take it to southern Europe as a mobile hotel. If it succeeds, they will be put in charge of a whole fleet. While on the road in France they pick up three young British ladies whose car breaks down and offer to take them to their next singing job in Athens. They also pick up a stowaway, who hides the fact that she's a famous American pop star on the run, chased by the media and her parents.
Assistant Director
A working class girl struggles to create a life for herself with her gay co-worker after becoming pregnant from a one-night stand with a black sailor.
Assistant Director
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Assistant Director
Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.
