Peter Cotes (19 March 1912 – 10 November 1998) was an English director, producer, actor, writer and production manager.[1]

Cotes was born as Sydney Boulting[2] in Maidenhead, Berkshire.[3] His brothers John and Roy Boulting became noted film makers.[2] He began as an actor, before concentrating on theatre production.[4] He was the original director of the world's longest-running production The Mousetrap, still playing at the St Martins Theatre, London.[5] He wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of Charlie Chaplin in 1951.[4]

He was twice married: Myfanwy Jones (marriage annulled) and Joan Miller (widowed 1988).[5] He died from natural causes in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, aged 86.[4]

Cinema and television credits

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As actor

As writer

  • London Playhouse (3 episodes, 1955–56)
    • Lady Must Sell (1955) (adaptation)
    • Summer in Normandy (1955) (production supervisor)
    • The Guv'nor (1956) TV episode (production supervisor)
  • ITV Playhouse (1 episode 1956)
    • Ashes in the Wind (1956) (adaptation)
  • ITV Play of the Week (1 episode 1965)
    • Winter in Ischia (1965) (television adaptation)

As producer

  • London Playhouse (5 episodes 1955–56)
    • The Inward Eye (1955) (producer)
    • Lady Must Sell (1955) (producer)
    • Fighting Chance (1955) (producer)
    • Adeline Girard (1955) (supervising producer)
    • Yesterday's Mail (1956) (producer)
  • ITV Playhouse
    • Woman in a Dressing Gown (1956) (producer)
  • BBC Sunday Night Theatre
    • The Road (1953) (producer)
    • What the Public Wants (1959) (producer)
  • The World of Wooster
    • Jeeves and the Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustice (1966) (associate producer)
    • Jeeves and the Indian Summer of an Uncle (1966) (associate producer)

As director

  • BBC Sunday Night Theatre (1 episode 1953)
    • The Road (1953) (uncredited)
  • The Right Person (1955)
  • London Playhouse (3 episodes 1955–56)
    • Area Nine (1955)
    • Lady Must Sell (1955)
    • Yesterday's Mail (1956)
  • Sword of Freedom (1 episode 1957)
    • Alessandro (1957)
  • The Young and the Guilty (1958)
  • ITV Television Playhouse (5 episodes 1956–58)
    • Ashes in the Wind (1956)
    • Woman in a Dressing Gown (1956)
    • The Young and the Guilty (1956)
    • Not Proven (1957)
    • Look in Any Window (1958)
  • Shadow of the Vine (1962)
  • ITV Play of the Week (1 episode 1964)
    • The Offence (1964) (TV episode)
  • Janie Jones, at the New Theatre, London, (opened 15 July 1968)

Selected theatre credits

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  • The Mousetrap (1952, director of original London stage production)

References

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  1. ^ "Peter Cotes". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
  3. ^ "Peter Cotes Papers – Archives Hub".
  4. ^ a b c Gussow, Mel (18 November 1998). "Peter Cotes, 86, Producer and Director of 'Mousetrap'". The New York Times.
  5. ^ a b "Obituary: Peter Cotes". Independent.co.uk. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
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