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Peter Glenville directing Alec Guinness in what was probably the London stage production of Hotel Paradiso
Cinema is a literature of images. Theater is a literature of ideas.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville, early theatre – acting in the OUDS stage production as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
As Stage Actor
Sometimes plays allow for broad and colorful strokes of direction, involving all the tricks that theatre magic can provide.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville & Vivien Leigh acting in the stage production of George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma
As Stage Actor
On occasion, the style of the play should call for the most delicate and unobtrusive staging.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville directing Anthony Quinn and Laurence Olivier in the stage production of Becket
As Stage Director
A director should be an interpreter of the particular world of each playwright with whom he works.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville with Peter O’Toole on the set of Becket
As Film Director
The movie camera is visual. Images become more dramatic than words.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville with Natalie Wood at the film premier of Becket (Jack Lemmon background right)
Peter Glenville directing Peter Ustinov, Richard Burton (back), James Earl Jones (back), Alec Guinness and Elizabeth Taylor in The Comedians
As Film Director
I believe it is essential to keep one’s eye on the whole story in terms of the relative importance of dialogue, actions, and situation.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville directing Maximilian Schell in the Broadway stage production of A Patriot for Me
As Stage Director
It is possible through the close-up to achieve intimacy with the audience instead of projecting them as is necessary in the theatre.
– Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville with Aileen Mehle and Bill Smith
As Loyal Friend
He knew everyone and he was a friend to everyone; he was very much in demand. He had such a marvelous personality, wit, charm, intelligence…
– Columnist Aileen Mehle
Peter Glenville with Arlene Dahl
As Gentleman
Peter’s great gift was conversation. I would always leave my time with Peter feeling mentally exhilarated.
– Producer Tom Seligson
Peter Glenville with friend Angela Lansbury, who he directed in the 1957 Broadway stage production of Hotel Paradiso opposite Bert Lahr
As Stage Director
His actors plunge head-first into a slam-bang performance that goes at high speed…
– New York Times review of Peter Glenville’s Broadway production Hotel Paradiso
Peter Glenville with his friends The Duke & Duchess of Windsor
As Gentleman
He was very courtly, had a great insistence on correct manners, and was a very kind man.
– Writer Dotson Rader
As Loyal Friend
You would want him at your side in battle, or in a shipwreck. He made me laugh more than anyone I knew
– Fernanda Eberstadt, daughter of Frederick and Isabel Eberstadt, and friend of Peter
Film Reels
Film Reels
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Peter’s Life
Peter’s Life
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About the Man