Willis Hall

1929–2005 · English playwright and screenwriter

Willis Edward Hall was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with his life-long friend Keith Waterhouse producing over 250 works. He wrote plays such as Billy Liar, The Long and the Short and the Tall, and Celebration; the screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind, A Kind of Loving and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain; and television programmes including Budgie, Worzel Gummidge and Minder. His passion for musical theatre led to a string of hits, including Wind in the Willows, The Card, and George Stiles' and Anthony Drewe's Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure.

Willis Hall, in order

1. 1961 Whistle Down the Wind: wrote · directed by Bryan Forbes
2. 1962 A Kind of Loving: wrote · directed by John Schlesinger · streaming on Kanopy, Shout! Factory TV, Plex
3. 1962 The Valiant: wrote · directed by Roy Ward Baker
4. 1963 Billy Liar: wrote · directed by John Schlesinger · critics 91%, audiences 83% · streaming on Kanopy, Tubi
5. 1963 Man in the Middle: wrote · directed by Guy Hamilton · audiences 50%
6. 1963 West 11: wrote · directed by Michael Winner
7. 1966 Torn Curtain: directed · critics 63%, audiences 52%