Terence Davies was a British filmmaker and author who was known for semi-autobiographical works like “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” as well as such adaptations as “The House of Mirth” and “The Deep Blue Sea.”
- Died: October 7, 2023 (Who else died on October 7?)
- Details of death: Died in Mistley, England, of cancer at the age of 77.
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Terence Davies’ legacy
Davies came from a working-class background in Liverpool, England, one of 10 children in a Catholic family. His home life was unhappy; leaving to attend boarding school was among his best childhood memories. In 1972, he attended the Coventry Drama School, where he penned his first screenplay, “Children.” It became his first short film and was based largely on his own life as a closeted gay man in a deeply religious family and school.
The 1980s short films “Madonna and Child” and “Death and Transfiguration,” were based on his life and later combined into an anthology. This led to the making of 1988’s “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” a semi-autobiographical account of living in working class Liverpool in the 1940s and ‘50s. The film and its semi-autobiographical follow-up, “The Long Day Closes,” received widespread acclaim. Davies followed up these works with a pair of classic adaptations, “The House of Mirth” and “The Deep Blue Sea,” before returning to his own screenplays. His final film was “Benediction,” a biopic about British poet Siegfried Sassoon, a World War I combat veteran who became a significant anti-war figure of the time. It was widely regarded as one of the best films of 2021.
Over the years, Davies’ work earned praise for its unflinching, sorrow-tinged look at the life of those on the margins, often featuring homosexual characters. He won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, multiple London Film Critics Circle Awards, and several British Academy Film Awards.
Notable quote
“Humour is so beguiling, especially when it masks tragedy.”—from a 2020 interview in the Guardian
Tributes to Terence Davies
Full obituary: The New York Times
