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Kevin Billington

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Kevin Billington
Kevin Billington and his wife Rachel in 1968
Born (1934-06-12) 12 June 1934 (age 90)
NationalityBritish
Alma materQueens' College, Cambridge
OccupationFilm/theatre director
Spouse
Children4

Kevin Billington (born 12 June 1934) is an English film director, who has worked in the theatre, film and television since the 1960s.

The son of a factory worker,[1] and educated at Bryanston School and Queens' College, Cambridge,[2] early in his career he worked for the BBC as a radio producer in Leeds (1959–60) and then for television in Manchester (1960–61) before working on the early evening Tonight and on documentaries for the BBC and ATV until 1967.[3] Billington's films include The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), which stars Peter Cook, while his theatre work includes several productions of plays by Harold Pinter, his brother-in-law.

Billington's television work includes Henry VIII (1979) for the BBC Television Shakespeare project, one of the best received productions in the series.[4] The Good Soldier (Granada 1981), based on the novel by Ford Madox Ford and A Time to Dance (BBC 1992), adapted by Melvyn Bragg from his own work of fiction.[5]

He is married to Lady Rachel Billington, having met while they were both working in New York, they married the following year[1] in 1967.[6] The couple have three adult children.

References

  1. ^ a b Fred Hauptfuhrer "The Literary Longfords Include Lord Porn, Mum and Antonia—Now Make Way for Sister Rachel" People, 13:12, 24 March 1980
  2. ^ http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/page-242
  3. ^ "Kevin Billington, Esq Authorised Biography", Debrett's
  4. ^ Michael Brooke "Henry VIII On Screen", BFI screenonline
  5. ^ Jerry Roberts Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009, p.43
  6. ^ Mario Conte "God & I: Rachel Billington", Messenger of St Anthony, September 2009