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Frank Launder

Frank Launder (28 January 1906 – 23 February 1997) was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat.^[1][2]

He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England and worked briefly as a clerk before becoming an actor and then a playwright.^[3]

He began working as a screenwriter on British films in the 1930s, contributing the original story for the classic Will Hay comedy Oh, Mr Porter! (1937).^[4]

Launder first collaborated with Gilliat in 1936 on the film Seven Sinners.^[5] After writing a number of screenplays with Gilliat, including The Lady Vanishes (1938) for Alfred Hitchcock, and Night Train to Munich for Carol Reed; the two men wrote and directed the wartime drama Millions Like Us (1943).^[2][6][7]

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 Trinian's series, based on Ronald Searle's cartoons set in an anarchic girls school.^[8][9]

After The Happiest Days of Your Life Launder focused entirely on comedy.^[3]

According to the British Film Institute 'over a hundred films feature either Launder or Gilliat in the credits, nearly forty feature both' but this large number was not 'at the expense of quality'.^[6]

He was married secondly to actress Bernadette O'Farrell from 1950 until his death in Monaco.^[5] The couple had two children.^[10] Launder also had two children from his first marriage.^[5]

• Frank Launder at the BFI's Screenonline
• Frank LaunderatIMDb
• Frank LaunderatBritish Comedy Guide
• BritMovie: Individual Pictures; The cinema of Launder and Gilliat
• George Sandulescu, ed., Film Director Frank Launder's Last Interview, Contemporary Literature Press, 2012^{[permanent dead link]}