King Rat

Bryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer. Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex . Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of... Dramatic Arts but did not complete his studies. After military service from 1945 to 1948, he played numerous supporting roles in British films including in 1955 The Colditz Story, alongside John Mills, as well as appearing on the stage, but was obliged to change his name by British Equity to avoid confusion with the adolescent actor John Clark. He began also to write for the screen, receiving his first full credit for The Cockleshell Heroes in 1955. Another noted screenplay of his from this period was for The League of Gentlemen in 1959, in which he also acted. He formed a production company with his frequent collaborator Richard Attenborough in 1959 , which went on to make The Angry Silence in 1960, a screenplay by Forbes in which Attenborough took the lead role, and both shared production responsibilities.
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