Peter Brook: Influential British film and theater director who worked with Sir Lawrence Olivier dies aged 97 | UK News
Influential British film and theater director Peter Brook has died aged 97, French media reports.
Brook has won numerous awards including Tonys and Emmys during her 70-year career and worked with stars including Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and Adrian Lester.
Le Monde newspaper reported that he died in Paris on Saturday.
Brook’s publisher, Nick Hern Books, paid tribute to him, saying he “left behind an incredible artistic legacy”.
Born in Chiswick, west London, in 1925 to Lithuanian Jewish parents, he attended Westminster School, then Oxford University.
His first production was Dr Faustus in 1943 at the Torch Theater in London.
He made waves during his time as a producer at the Royal Opera House from 1947 to 1950, where he staged an experimental version of Richard Strauss’ Salome with sets by the Spanish surrealist artist. House of Salvador Dali.
He is more famous for directing Sir Lawrence as Titus Andronicus in Stratford for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1955.
In 1970, Brook moved to Paris, where he founded the International Center for Theater Studies, which traveled throughout the Middle East and Africa as part of a three-year “pilgrimage”.
His troupe often performed for rural communities with only a stage mat.
Brook was also one of the first theaters to focus on increasing the diversity of its productions.
In an interview with the Evening Standard in 2019, he described his selection method as “color-rich” rather than “color-blind”.
He received CBE accreditation in 1965 and a Companion of Honor in 1998.
In 1951, Brook married actress Natasha Parry and they had two children – Irina, an actress and director, and Simon, a director.
