--- name: "Bill Forsyth" canonical: "https://film.one/person/bill-forsyth" fi1m_id: "bill-forsyth" imdb_id: "nm0287025" tmdb_id: 68687 wikidata_id: "Q738037" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "29 July 1946" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 82 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-26T01:33:58.762824+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Bill Forsyth ## Identity Bill Forsyth - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/bill-forsyth - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** bill-forsyth - **IMDb ID:** nm0287025 - **TMDB ID:** 68687 - **Wikidata ID:** Q738037 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Forsyth, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q738037, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0287025/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/68687 Director and writer. Born 29 July 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 29 July 1946, Glasgow, Scotland - **Active:** 1983–1987 - **Also known as:** William David Forsyth - **BAFTA Film Awards:** 1 BAFTA (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as director, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Forsyth, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q738037, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0287025/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/68687 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) (86) - **The Roku Channel:** [*Housekeeping*](https://film.one/film/housekeeping.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Bill Forsyth > Bill Forsyth makes gently absurd comedies in which people have time to be peculiar and still make sense. We value his patience with them, though *Local Hero* shows how readily that fondness can let difficult questions slide. The villagers in *Local Hero* (1983) see an oil development coming and consider how much money they might make. Bill Forsyth does not treat this as a shameful lapse in otherwise decent people; he allows them to want the money without making them villains. We laughed at their cheerful readiness to cash in, because they were so plainly enjoying a prospect we might have expected them to resist. This is why we rate Forsyth: he can make people funny without deciding that their weaknesses make them contemptible. *That Sinking Feeling* (1979) began his feature career with Glasgow youth-theatre actors and an affection for everyday absurdity. *Gregory's Girl* (1981) made adolescence the subject of his close observation and brought his breakthrough. The American turn came with *Housekeeping* (1987), his adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's novel, where understatement made obsessive behaviour credible. The setting changed, but his interest in letting strange people seem quite plausible remained. *Being Human* (1994), a portmanteau film with Robin Williams, ended that Hollywood phase after studio cuts. On *Local Hero*, made with producer David Puttnam, Forsyth gives conversations space to develop without explaining everyone's oddities. Peter Riegert's Mac MacIntyre stays steady among the eccentrics, while Burt Lancaster seems entirely at ease with Felix Happer's silliness. Denis Lawson gives Gordon Urquhart a briskness that keeps the company from becoming uniformly dreamy. We can see Forsyth's judgement in the way these performances sit together: nobody has to compete for the same laugh. The screenplay allows people to become interesting beyond the business that has brought them together. The reservation is there in *Local Hero*, too: Forsyth sometimes enjoys the villagers so much that the possible loss of their coast starts to seem insufficiently troubling. Their appetite for profit gives the comedy something difficult to consider, and the whimsy occasionally lets it off. We would have liked him to keep that bargain in view more firmly. Start here for the pleasure of the company, but do not expect him to ask every awkward question. ## Biography Bill Forsyth is a Scottish film director and screenwriter. Born William David Forsyth in Glasgow in 1946, he left school at 17 and spent eight years making short documentary films, forming Tree Films with Charles Gormley. Forsyth first attracted attention with the low-budget feature *That Sinking Feeling* (1979). His breakthrough came with *Gregory's Girl* (1980), which won a BAFTA for Best Screenplay. He wrote and directed *Local Hero* (1983), produced by David Puttnam and starring Burt Lancaster, which earned him a BAFTA for Best Direction. Subsequent films include *Comfort and Joy* (1984), the adaptation *Housekeeping* (1987) and *Being Human* (1994). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, screenonline.org.uk.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Housekeeping* (1987), Fi1m 78, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/housekeeping.md) - *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) ## Complete filmography (25) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Beast Pageant* (2010), Thanks - *Gregory's Two Girls* (1999), Director, Writer - *Being Human* (1994), Writer, Director - *Breaking In* (1989), Director - *Housekeeping* (1987), Writer, Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/housekeeping.md) - *Comfort and Joy* (1984), Director, Writer - *Local Hero* (1983), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) - *Andrina* (1981), Director, Screenplay - *Gregory's Girl* (1980), Director, Writer - *That Sinking Feeling* (1980), Director, Writer, Producer - *The Odd Man* (1978), Producer - *The Living Land* (1976), Producer, Editor - *Polar Power* (1974), Editor - *Shapes In The Water* (1974), Director - *Islands of the West* (1972), Director - *Highlands* (1972), Editor - *A Place in the Country: Renfrewshire Regional Park* (1972), Editor - *Glasgow 1980* (1971), Editor - *Island of the Big Cloth* (1971), Editor - *Mirror* (1970), as Geoff - *Still Life with Honesty* (1970), Editor, Director - *KH-4* (1969), as The Artist · Editor - *Mackintosh* (1968), Editor - *Loch Lomond* (1967), Production Assistant - *The Smiths in Scotland* (1966), Production Assistant ## Gallery - ![Bill Forsyth](https://film.one/media/person/59748/gallery-59e8ff53c0b8.jpg) Bill Forsyth — Martin Burns, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Bill_Forsyth_2009_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Bill Forsyth](https://film.one/media/person/59748/gallery-5f800d7b098e.jpg) Bill Forsyth — Image via TMDB - ![Bill Forsyth](https://film.one/media/person/59748/gallery-a96c301567e7.jpg) Bill Forsyth — Image via TMDB - ![Bill Forsyth](https://film.one/media/person/59748/gallery-b87b77603b5b.jpg) Bill Forsyth — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won - 1984: Best Direction (won), for *Local Hero* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bill-forsyth