Jack Davies

Biography

John Bernard Henry Leslie Davies, known as Jack Davies (1913-1994), was a British screenwriter and novelist who also acted occasionally. His work belongs to the British comedy and adventure cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, with close to fifty writing credits on film and a television series in 1985.

He began in the 1930s with light musicals and popular entertainments. After the war he became associated with situation comedies and adventure films, including Doctor at Sea (1955) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956), in which he also appears briefly, uncredited, as an actor. He worked as an associate producer on Crooks Anonymous and on Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, the latter earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He also wrote novels, two of which, Paper Tiger and North Sea Hijack, were adapted for the screen.

His legacy is that of a working craftsman within popular British cinema. He was married to Dorothy Holding from 1937 until his death in 1994, and they had two sons, John Howard and Legh Davies. His last major television work was the 1985 series The Pickwick Papers.

Key films

• Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
• Doctor at Sea (1955)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
• It Started in Naples (1960)