---
name: "Lewis Gilbert"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lewis-gilbert"
fi1m_id: "lewis-gilbert"
imdb_id: "nm0318150"
tmdb_id: 10076
wikidata_id: "Q303891"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "6 March 1920"
died: "23 February 2018"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 69
average_as: "director"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-09-20T04:34:50.860733+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."
---

# Lewis Gilbert

## Identity

Lewis Gilbert

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lewis-gilbert
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** lewis-gilbert
- **IMDb ID:** nm0318150
- **TMDB ID:** 10076
- **Wikidata ID:** Q303891
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Gilbert, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q303891, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318150/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10076

Director and producer. Born 6 March 1920 in London, England, UK. Died 23 February 2018.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 6 March 1920, London, England, UK
- **Died:** 23 February 2018
- **Active:** 1966–1983
- **Also known as:** Льюис Гилберт, Льюис Джильберт
- **Frequently works with:** [Albert R. Broccoli](https://film.one/person/albert-r-broccoli.md), [Christopher Wood](https://film.one/person/christopher-wood.md), [Michael Caine](https://film.one/person/michael-caine.md), [Richard Kiel](https://film.one/person/richard-kiel.md), [Roger Moore](https://film.one/person/roger-moore.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 69, as director, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 70 (2), 1970s 68 (2), 1980s 71 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 69 to 65 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Action 3, Adventure 3, Thriller 3, Comedy 2, Drama 2, Romance 1
- **Screen time:** 10 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $526m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Gilbert, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q303891, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318150/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10076

## Fi1m on Lewis Gilbert

> We value Lewis Gilbert for his care with actors and his interest in working-class lives. *Educating Rita* is worth an evening, but its unevenness shows how much energy his performers sometimes have to supply.

In *Educating Rita* (1983), Julie Walters keeps a lesson alive by making us believe she needs to learn. Opposite Michael Caine’s disappointed professor, her curiosity is too pressing for the exchanges to become merely a succession of put-downs. We cared about Rita because Walters makes that wish to learn matter even when Willy Russell’s screenplay settles for an easy laugh. Lewis Gilbert gives the actors careful attention, but he does not always give their scenes enough pace.

War films such as *Reach for the Sky* (1956) came before the international attention of *Alfie* (1966). Then came three James Bond films between 1967 and 1979, including *You Only Live Twice* (1967) and *The Spy Who Loved Me* (1977). By *Educating Rita* and *Shirley Valentine* (1989), stage adaptations had become a focus of his later work. Those changes of scale suggest a practical director, willing to adjust to the kind of entertainment at hand.

Gilbert often adapted plays and novels with Vernon Harris. Harris was a long-term collaborator as writer and script editor. The direct-to-camera address in *Alfie* and *Shirley Valentine*, the latter with Pauline Collins, gives the central character a particularly direct way of reaching us. Yet *Educating Rita* shows that preserving a strong central voice is only part of adapting a play. The supporting subplots keep interrupting Rita and her professor without giving us anyone comparably interesting to watch.

Frank Watts’s photography in *Educating Rita* is serviceable, rarely telling us anything about Rita and her professor that the dialogue has not supplied. Garth Craven’s editing keeps their exchanges clear but cannot prevent the subplots from breaking our concentration. Gilbert’s care is evident, though we cannot call that a virtue whenever a scene drags. The film remains likeable because Walters and Caine make its central relationship worth the time spent away from it. Start with *Educating Rita* for Walters and Caine, and be patient when Gilbert leaves them for the supporting cast.

## Biography

Lewis Gilbert (1920–2018) was an English film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed more than 40 films over six decades, beginning with war documentaries and low-budget features in the 1940s and 1950s before moving to larger productions.

He is known for the war films *Reach for the Sky* (1956), *Sink the Bismarck!* (1960) and *Carve Her Name with Pride* (1958), the comedies *Alfie* (1966), *Educating Rita* (1983) and *Shirley Valentine* (1989), and three James Bond films: *You Only Live Twice* (1967), *The Spy Who Loved Me* (1977) and *Moonraker* (1979). Gilbert also produced *Educating Rita*. He was appointed CBE in 1997 and received a BFI Fellowship in 2001.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *Educating Rita* (1983), Fi1m 71, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/educating-rita.md)
- *Moonraker* (1979), Fi1m 58, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/moonraker.md)
- *The Spy Who Loved Me* (1977), Fi1m 77, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-spy-who-loved-me.md)
- *You Only Live Twice* (1967), Fi1m 62, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/you-only-live-twice.md)
- *Alfie* (1966), Fi1m 79, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/alfie.md)

## Complete filmography (46)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Before You Go* (2002), Director
- *Haunted* (1995), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Stepping Out* (1991), Director
- *Shirley Valentine* (1989), Director, Producer
- *Not Quite Paradise* (1985), Director, Producer
- *Educating Rita* (1983), Director, Producer — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/film/educating-rita.md)
- *Moonraker* (1979), Director — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/moonraker.md)
- *Moonraker: 007 in Rio* (1979), Actor
- *The Spy Who Loved Me* (1977), Director — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/the-spy-who-loved-me.md)
- *Seven Nights in Japan* (1976), Producer, Director
- *Operation: Daybreak* (1975), Director
- *Paul and Michelle* (1974), Producer, Director, Screenplay
- *Friends* (1971), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *The Adventurers* (1970), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *You Only Live Twice* (1967), Director — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/you-only-live-twice.md)
- *Alfie* (1966), Director, Producer — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/alfie.md)
- *The 7th Dawn* (1964), Director
- *H.M.S. Defiant* (1962), Director
- *The Greengage Summer* (1961), Director
- *Light Up the Sky!* (1960), Director
- *Sink the Bismarck!* (1960), Director
- *Ferry to Hong Kong* (1959), Director, Screenplay
- *Whicker's World* (1959), series, Actor
- *A Cry from the Streets* (1958), Director
- *Carve Her Name with Pride* (1958), Director, Screenplay
- *The Admirable Crichton* (1957), Director, Writer
- *Reach for the Sky* (1956), Director, Screenplay
- *Cast a Dark Shadow* (1955), Director
- *Harmony Lane* (1954), Director
- *The Sea Shall Not Have Them* (1954), Director, Writer
- *The Good Die Young* (1954), Director, Screenplay
- *Albert R.N.* (1953), Director
- *Johnny on the Run* (1953), Director, Producer
- *Cosh Boy* (1953), Writer, Director
- *Time, Gentlemen, Please!* (1952), Director
- *Emergency Call* (1952), Director, Writer
- *There Is Another Sun* (1951), Director
- *Scarlet Thread* (1951), Director
- *Once a Sinner* (1950), Director
- *Marry Me* (1949), Writer
- *The Little Ballerina* (1947), Director
- *The Ten Year Plan* (1945), Director, Writer
- *Room for Two* (1940), Actor
- *Over the Moon* (1939), as Minor Role (uncredited)
- *The Price of a Song* (1935), as Margaret’s younger brother
- *Dick Turpin* (1933), as Jem

## Gallery

- ![Sépulture de Lewis Gilbert au cimetière de Monaco (2023)](https://film.one/media/person/118004/gallery-673c8065bcf2.jpg) Sépulture de Lewis Gilbert au cimetière de Monaco (2023) — Ederolland EdR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/HC_GILBERT_L_CIM-Monaco_2023-03.jpg/1280px-HC_GILBERT_L_CIM-Monaco_2023-03.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lewis Gilbert](https://film.one/media/person/118004/gallery-9215ab039d12.jpg) Lewis Gilbert — Image via TMDB
- ![Lewis Gilbert](https://film.one/media/person/118004/gallery-fec358559132.jpg) Lewis Gilbert — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1967: Best Picture (nominated), for *Alfie*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1997: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (won)

*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/lewis-gilbert