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Michael Elliott, OBE (26 June 1931 – 30 May 1984) was an English theatre and television director. He was a founding director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.[1]
Early life
Elliott was born in London, England, son of Rev. Canon Wallace Harold Elliott (1884–1957), a Royal chaplain, writer, and broadcaster,[2] and his wife Edith Plaistow Kilburn. He was educated at Radley College and Keble College, Oxford.[3] While still at Oxford he met Caspar Wrede, the theatre director, with whom he was to work closely for the next three decades.
Career
After leaving Oxford, Elliott assisted on a production of Edward II at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival Fringe directed by Wrede. Also in 1954 Elliott joined the BBC to direct plays for the drama department.
Elliott continued to work in television, often directing plays he had already produced in the theatre. These included Brand, As You Like It and Little Eyolf. He also worked for television in Norway and Sweden. He completed more than 50 productions in the UK, the last being King Lear (1983) with Laurence Olivier.
His long-term collaborator, the translator and playwright Michael Meyer, said of Elliott: "Michael combined technical mastery with a brilliant visual sense, the ability to penetrate to the heart of the most resistant text, and the gift of extracting the best from everyone he worked with".[6]
Personal life
Elliott married the actress Rosalind Knight in July 1959.[8] They had two daughters: the theatre director Marianne Elliott[1][9] and the actor and director Susannah Elliott-Knight.[10] Elliott was awarded the OBE in 1979.
