Jack Clayton

He married actress Christine Norden in 1947 and divorced her in 1953.

He married French actress Katherine Kath in 1953 and divorced her later.

He married Israeli actress Haya Harareet in mid 1960s. She had starred in the remake of ‘Ben Hur’ in 1959 along with Charlton Heston. She was with him till his death in 1995.

Jack Clayton was born in Brighton, East Sussex, England, on March 1, 1921.

Jack Clayton started his career in the British film industry as a child actor in ‘Dark Red Roses’ in 1929.

He joined the film industry in 1936 when he was only 14-year-old as a ‘tea boy’ and became a third assistant director under Alexander Korda’s ‘London Films’ at ‘Denham Studios’.

During this period he worked on different films such as ‘Wings of the Morning’ in 1937, ‘Q Planes’ in 1939, ‘Over the Moon’ and ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ in 1940.

During the Second World War he joined the Royal Air Force film unit and worked as a photographer from 1940 to 1946. He directed his first documentary for the Royal Air Force Film Unit titled ‘Naples is a Battlefield’ in 1944 though he received no credit for it.

After the war he worked on a number of films such as ‘Bond Street’ in 1948 as an assistant director and on ‘An Ideal Husband’ in 1947 as production manager.

Jack Clayton won his first ‘Academy Award for Best Director’ for the film ‘The Bespoke Overcoat’ in 1955. He also won the ‘BAFTA Award for Best British Film’ for it.

In 1958 his film ‘Room at the Top’ received an ‘Academy Award’ nomination for ‘Best Picture’ and a ‘BAFTA Award’ nomination for ‘Best Film’. Neil Paterson bagged the Oscar for ‘Best Screenplay’ and Simone Signoret won the Oscar for ‘Best Actress’.