British actor and director (1912–1998)
Peter Cotes (19 March 1912 – 10 November 1998) was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager.[1]
Cotes was born as Sydney Boulting[2] in Maidenhead, Berkshire.[3] His brothers John and Roy Boulting became noted film makers.[2] He began as an actor, before concentrating on theatre production.[4] He was the original director of the world's longest-running production The Mousetrap, still playing at the St Martins Theatre, London.[5] He wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of Charlie Chaplin in 1951.[4]
He was twice married: Myfanwy Jones (marriage annulled) and Joan Miller (widowed 1988).[5] He died from natural causes in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, aged 86.[4]
Cinema and television credits
As actor
As writer
- 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 (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
- The Road (1953) (producer)
- What the Public Wants (1959) (producer)
- 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 (1955)
- London Playhouse (3 episodes 1955–56)
- Area Nine (1955)
- Lady Must Sell (1955)
- Yesterday's Mail (1956)
- Sword of Freedom (1 episode 1957)
- 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 (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
- ^ "Peter Cotes". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
- ^ a b Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
- ^ "Peter Cotes Papers – Archives Hub".
- ^ a b c Gussow, Mel (18 November 1998). "Peter Cotes, 86, Producer and Director of 'Mousetrap'". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Obituary: Peter Cotes". Independent.co.uk. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
External links
