Charles Jarrott

The son of a British musical comedy actress, Charles Jarrott inaugurated his own theatrical career after World War II, first as assistant stage manager with the Council of Great Britain Touring Company, then as actor/director with the Nottingham Repertory. In 1953, Jarrott relocated to Canada, where he was resident actor at the Ottawa Theatre. Within two years, he was directing for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Entering films as a director in 1962, he went on to win a Golden Globe nomination for his work on Anne of a Thousand Days. It is generally assumed that Jarrott's film directorial career came to a halt after the unsuccessful Lost Horizon (1973). However, while it is true that he was no longer offered plum film assignments (Condorman, though profitable, was hardly Oscar calibre), he was enormously successful in both British and American television. His TV-movie manifest includes 1987's Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story, for which he won an Emmy; 1988's The Woman He Loved, a lavish recounting of the Prince Edward/Wallis Warfield Simpson affair; and the controversial 1991 biopic Lucy and Desi: Before the Laughter. Charles Jarrott is married to actress Katharine Blake.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide