Obituary: John Schlesinger

Schlesinger was born in London

A pioneer of social realism on celluloid, John Schlesinger made his name in the 1960s with a series of kitchen sink dramas for the big screen.

But in films such as Billy Liar, Darling and Midnight Cowboy his work was praised for the rare combination of visual beauty and social commentary.

The son of a distinguished Harley Street paediatrician, the precocious amateur film-maker harboured desires to be a magician.

But, after graduating from Oxford and enjoying a stint pulling rabbits out of hats in an Army entertainment unit, it seemed he was more likely to become a designer.

With the Royal Engineers in Singapore, he found the only things he was designing were latrines and he was determined to put his hand to something more creative.

He found work on the BBC programmes Tonight and Monitor and learned his trade under producer Huw Weldon.

For Schlesinger, television was a medium in which he could learn from his mistakes.

But although to him TV was "on and off and forgotten like yesterday's newspaper", his work brought him to the attention of producer Joseph Jannie, his mentor and future long-term collaborator.

Purveyor of gritty realism

Sponsored by British Transport, Schlesinger made the award-winning film Terminus, about a day in the life of Waterloo Station.

Voight and Hoffman starred in Midnight Cowboy

His first feature film revealed Schlesinger's technical skills as well as his keen exploration of complex personal relationships.

Starring Alan Bates as the Lancashire draughtsman disillusioned by marital life, the 1962 film A Kind of Loving propelled Schlesinger to the front rank of purveyors of gritty realism.

In his second slice of northern life a year later, Billy Liar, Schlesinger guided actor Tom Courtenay through a journey of fantasy and self-delusion, away from his claustrophobic existence.

Strong emotions, striking backgrounds

In 1965, the depiction of joyless hedonistic existence of Darling invited comparison to Fellini's La Dolce Vita and brought Julie Christie an Oscar.

During the late 60s, Schlesinger proved he could bring his skills to different landscapes.

He made his by now trademark studies of intense human emotions against the pastoral beauty of Dorset in Far from the Madding Crowd, and against the raunchiness of Manhattan's Times Square in Midnight Cowboy.

Midnight Cowboy, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, was the first X-rated film to win Best Picture Oscar, and earned one for its director, too.

Stickler for detail

Sunday Bloody Sunday brought Schlesinger more Oscar nominations but also fresh criticism.

He insisted on depicting the gay screen relationship between Peter Finch and Murray Head as normal and natural.

Tom Courtney in Schlesinger's Billy Liar

The director's depictions of gay characters became increasingly sympathetic as Schlesinger became more confident of expressing his own homosexuality.

During the making of the 1976 Nazi thriller Marathon Man, he was called on to referee the jousting between two talented proponents of different acting techniques, Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman.

Like Hoffman, Schlesinger was a stickler for painstaking detail. "It's very rare," he said, "to make a film that doesn't take at least two years of your life. It can be a personal agony."

Between films, he directed Shakespeare for theatre and operatic productions, as well as returning to the BBC for the award-winning An Englishman Abroad, A Question of Attribution and, later, Cold Comfort Farm.

The variety and strength of his work were recognised in 1996 by BAFTA, who accorded him the rare honour of a Fellow of the Academy.