Frank Launder

Frank Launder (28 January 1906 — 23 February 1997) was an English writer, director and producer, who made more than forty films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat.

He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England and began working as a screenwriter on British films in the 1930s, contributing the story for the classic Will Hay comedy Oh, Mr Porter! (1937). After writing a number of screenplays with Gilliat, including The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Night Train to Munich, the two men produced and directed the wartime drama Millions Like Us (1943). After founding their own production company Individual Pictures, they produced a number of memorable dramas and thrillers including I See a Dark Stranger (1945) and Green for Danger (1946), but were best known for their comedies including The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and most famously, the St Trinians series, based on Ronald Searle's cartoons set in an anarchic girls school. He was married to actress Bernadette O'Farrell from 1950 until his death.

Selected films

• How He Lied to Her Husband (1931) co-writer
• Those Were The Days (1933) writer
• Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) story
• The Lady Vanishes (1938) writer
• Night Train to Munich (1940) writer
• The Young Mr Pitt (1942) writer
• Millions Like Us (1943) writer/director/producer
• Two Thousand Women (1944 writer/director
• I See a Dark Stranger (1945) writer/director
• Green for Danger (1946) producer
• The Blue Lagoon (1949) writer/director/producer
• The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) writer/director/producer
• Folly to be Wise (1952) writer/director/producer
• The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953) producer
• The Belles of St Trinian's (1954) writer/director/producer
• The Green Man (1956) writer/producer
• Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957) writer/director/producer
• Left, Right and Centre (1959) writer/director/producer
• The Bridal Path (1959)
• The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960) writer/director/producer
• The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) writer/director

External links

• Frank Launder at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Frank Launder at the Internet Movie Database