Domiciled in Britain since leaving Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia during
his childhood, Karel Reisz was a critic for Sequence and other publications
before producing and directing a number of Free Cinema documentary shorts
and advertising films before moving into feature films. His first feature
film, Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning (1960), was one of the most acceptable products
of the British new wave period. He worked in conjunction with Lindsay
Anderson and Tony Richardson and became became
one of the leading figures in the 'New Wave' of British-film making.
His career moved to Hollywood in the mid-1970s with mixed success, but
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) became a critically acclaimed masterpiece.
His final years were spent concentrating on theatre direction in London,
Dublin and Paris. Reisz died in London at the age of 76.
