Bill Forsyth (born 29 July 1946) is a Scottish film director and writer best known for his films Gregory's Girl (1981), Local Hero (1983), and Comfort and Joy (1984), as well as his commitment to national film-making.^[1]

Early years[link]

William David Forsyth was born 29 July 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland. After graduating Knightswood School at the age of 17, he spent eight years making short documentary films.^[2]

Film career[link]

Forsyth first came to attention with a low-budget film, That Sinking Feeling, made with youth theatre actors and featuring a cameo appearance by the Edinburgh gallery owner Richard Demarco. The relative success of the film was carried to a far higher level by his next film Gregory's Girl in 1981. This featured some of the same young actors, in particular John Gordon Sinclair, as well as the acting debut of Clare Grogan. The film was a major hit and won 'Best Screenplay' in that year's BAFTA Awards. In 1983 he wrote and directed the successful Local Hero, produced by David Puttnam, and featuring Burt Lancaster. It was rated in the top 100 films of the 1980s in a Premiere magazine recap of the decade. Forsyth's next film was the 1984 Comfort and Joy, about a Glasgow radio DJ caught in a rivalry between ice cream companies, which again featured Clare Grogan.

When Puttnam went to Hollywood, Forsyth followed, but had limited success. The 1987 Housekeeping was his first American film. Another movie, Being Human, was shelved by the studio for four years after Puttnam was ousted. Gregory's Two Girls from 2000 appeared as a sequel to Gregory's Girl, with John Gordon Sinclair playing the same character, but it received mixed reviews.

In a June 2009 interview on BBC Radio 5 Live, Forsyth stated that he is currently working on a new film project with the working title of Exile.

Filmography[link]

• That Sinking Feeling (1980)
• Andrina (1981)
• Gregory's Girl (1981)
• Local Hero (1983)
• Comfort and Joy (1984)
• Housekeeping (1987)
• Breaking In (1989)
• Being Human (1993)
• Gregory's Two Girls (1999)^[1]

Awards and nominations[link]

• 1982 BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay (Gregory's Girl) Won
• 1982 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Direction (Gregory's Girl)
• 1984 BAFTA Award for Best Direction (Local Hero) Won
• 1984 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Screenplay (Local Hero)
• 1985 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Screenplay (Comfort and Joy)^[3]

See also[link]

Cinema of Scotland

References[link]

Citations

Bibliography

External links[link]

• Bill Forsyth at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Forsyth biography and filmography at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• 1985 interview & portrait

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