Alvin Rakoff Dies: Veteran Canadian Filmmaker Was 97, Judi Dench & Stephen Fry Share Tributes

Alvin Rakoff , the veteran Canadian filmmaker best known for pics like the 1982 feature A Voyage Round My Father starring Laurence Olivier, has died. He was 97.

Rakoff's former personal agent confirmed the news with us this morning. The filmmaker passed away on October 12, surrounded by his family, in Chiswick, London.

Born in Toronto on February 6, 1927, Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC's director's training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.

As Rakoff once recalled: "I trained at the BBC as a director/producer. In those days, the two roles were combined. And the BBC insisted that trainees be knowledgeable in all forms of television. I worked on horse shows, cricket matches, variety, stand-up, big bands, small bands... Perhaps that's why it seemed logical in later productions to use different techniques."

Waiting For Gillian (1954) was one of Rakoff's first productions. It was a play that had failed on the stage but drew acclaim on TV. The adaptation later won a National Television Award for Best Play and transferred to Paris where it was performed live in French. Rakoff won his first Emmy Award for Call Me Daddy (1967), starring Donald Pleasance and Judy Cornwell. The production later transferred to the big screen where it was re-titled Hoffman (1970) and starred Peter Sellers and Sinead Cusack.

Rakoff, however, is perhaps best known for the 1982 drama A Voyage Round My Father, which starred Laurence Olivier. Written by John Mortimer and co-starring Alan Bates and Jane Asher, the pic won Rakoff his second Emmy. Rakoff and Olivier later collaborated on two further projects, Mr. Halpern And Mr. Johnson and A Talent For Murder.

Over the years, Rakoff worked with performers such as Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliot, Julian Fellows, Henry Fonda, Edward Fox, Michael Gambon, Ava Gardner, John Gielgud, Elliott Gould, Richard Harris, Michael Horden, Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, Patrick McGoohan, Roger Moore, Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Jean Simmons, Rod Steiger, Sam Wanamaker, and Shelley Winters.

In a statement shared with Deadline, Stephen Fry described Rakoff as a "giant of film, theatre and TV."

"His Midas touch with spotting and fostering talent introduced the world to some of the last century's greatest stars. Typically he was working on a screenplay right up to the last," Fry said.

Judi Dench added: "I have such wonderful memories of Alvin – both being directed by him and seeing him at The Mill. A very endearing person."

Rakoff is survived by Sally Hughes, his wife of 30 years and Managing Director of The Mill at Sonning Theatre alongside two children from his first marriage to the late Jacqueline Hill (d. 1993). Rakoff has five grandchildren and one surviving sibling, his sister Lorraine, a retired interior designer who still lives in Toronto.

Rakoff was also the former President of the Directors Guild.