| Intro | British artist |
| Was |
Film director Screenwriter Autobiographer Painter Writer |
| From | United Kingdom |
| Type |
Arts Film, TV, Stage & Radio Literature |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 11 May 1910, London |
| Death |
12 December 1970 (aged 60 years) |
John Paddy Carstairs (born John Keys, 11 May 1910 in London – 12 December 1970 in London) was a prolific British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and painter.
Biography
The son of Nelson Keys, Carstairs changed his name in order to avoid the appearance of nepotism. He directed 37 films in total. He had a long association with the character of Simon Templar (the character’s creator, Leslie Charteris, dedicated the 1963 book, The Saint in the Sun to Carstairs). Aside from directing the 1939 Saint film, The Saint in London, he also directed two episodes of The Saint in the 1960s, making him the only individual (other than Charteris himself) to be connected to both the Hollywood film and British series of The Saint. Carstairs directed many British comedies including many of Norman Wisdom’s films.
Select bibliography
- Honest Injun (1942)
- Hadn’t We the Gaiety (1945)
- Kaleidoscope and a Jaundiced Eye (1946)
Selected filmography
- A Honeymoon Adventure (1931, screenwriter)
- The Water Gipsies (1932, screenwriter)
- Nine till Six (1932, screenwriter)
- The Impassive Footman (1932, screenwriter)
- Love on the Spot (1932, screenwriter)
- It’s a Boy (1933, screenwriter)
- Paris Plane (1933)
- Boomerang (1934)
- Gay Love (1934)
- Falling in Love (1935)
- It’s a Cop (1934, screenwriter)
- Two’s Company (1936, screenwriter)
- Holiday’s End (1937)
- Double Exposures (1937)
- Night Ride (1937)
- Missing, Believed Married (1937)
- Incident in Shanghai (1938)
- Lassie from Lancashire (1938)
- The Saint in London (1939)
- All Hands (1940)
- Meet Maxwell Archer (1940)
- Now You’re Talking (1940)
- The Second Mr. Bush (1940)
- Dangerous Comment (1940)
- Telefootlers (1941)
- He Found a Star (1941)
- Spare a Copper (1941)
- Dancing with Crime (1947)
- Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948)
- Fools Rush In (1949)
- The Chiltern Hundreds (1949)
- Tony Draws a Horse (1950)
- Talk of a Million (1951)
- Made in Heaven (1952)
- Treasure Hunt (1952)
- Top of the Form (1953)
- Trouble in Store (1953)
- Up to His Neck (1954)
- One Good Turn (1955)
- Man of the Moment (1955)
- Jumping for Joy (1956)
- Up in the World (1956)
- Just My Luck (1957)
- The Big Money (1958)
- The Square Peg (1959)
- Tommy the Toreador (1959)
- Sands of the Desert (1960)
- A Weekend with Lulu (1961)
- The Devil’s Agent (1962)