Talk:Stephen Bayly
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STEPHEN BAYLY
Stephen Bayly (born July 7, 1942) is a director, producer and educator with over 40 years’ experience in the Film and Television industry. He was the producer of Tony Scott’s earliest films.[1] His film Coming Up Roses was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.[2] Bayly was director of the National Film and Television School UK between 1998 and 2003.[3] He is an internationally-known teacher of directors and actors in his Working with Actors workshops.
EARLY LIFE
Bayly was born on July 7, 1942, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He received his high-school education in the Advanced Program at Baltimore City College from which he graduated in 1960.[4] He studied literature, drama and education at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) graduating in 1964. At Western Maryland he served as president of the student body, and was initiated into Omicron Delta Kappa the national leadership honor society in 1963. This was followed by a year teaching in a junior high school, while undertaking night classes in City Planning at Johns Hopkins University. From there he went on to the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his M.A. in Planning in 1967. He received a Thouron Award in 1967[5] to the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, where he worked towards a PhD in Architecture. An interest in screenwriting led to a connection with Tony Scott, at that time a student at the Royal College of Art, and eventual collaboration with Tony on his first film, Loving Memory, for the British Film Institute.[6] The film was selected for La Semaine de la Critique in Cannes, 1971[7] after whichBayly never returned to architecture. He has been a British resident since 1967 and a naturalized UK citizen since July 1995.
CAREER
With Tony Scott, and his brother Ridley Scott, Stephen Bayly formed the original British production company Scott Free Enterprises and produced films for television including The Author of Beltraffio,[8] directed by Tony, part of an international co-production Nouvelles de Henry James involving directors such as Claude Chabrol and Volker Schloendorf.[9]
Having watched the Scott brothers at work, Bayly rethought his goals, applied and was accepted for the Directing program at the National Film School UK (later The National Film and Television School). Having graduated from the NFTS, and following a stint as a commercials’ director with Sid Roberson productions, he formed Red Rooster Film and Television[10] with Linda James – which became one of Britain’s most important tv film drama production companies in the late 80’s and 90’s. For Red Rooster he directed films for television, including films in the Welsh language for the new Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C). The duo produced Joni Jones, the inaugural drama series for the channel in 1982, distributed internationally and eventually dubbed and edited into a feature length version for television by Miramax Films.[11] [12] In 1984 they produced for S4C Aderyn Papur (And Pigs Might Fly, 1984)[13]followed by Y Gwaith - The Works (1986), also produced in English for Channel Four Films.[14] Bayly’s final Welsh-language film, Rhosyn ar Rhith (Coming up Roses) was selected for the Cannes Certain Regard in 1986, secured international distribution, and was released in the USA by Skouras Pictures in 1987.[15] In 1988 he directed the spoof film noir Just Ask for Diamond featuring Susanna York and Roy Kinnear, based on the book A Falcon’s Malteser by Anthony Horowitz (1986).[16] The characters were later spun off into a tv series, South by South East, produced by Bayly and directed by Horowitz.[17]
Having produced several television films for Red Rooster, Bayly went on to independently produce Shakespeare’s Richard III (1995) with Red Rooster’s former Head of Legal and Business, Lisa Katselas. Featuring Sir Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr., Maggie Smith, among others, the film was nominated for two Oscars and won a Golden Bear in Berlin, as well as several BAFTAs and the Evening Standard Best Film Award.[18]In 1996 Bayly and Katselas produced the film Mrs. Dalloway, directed by Marleen Gorris, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf, and starring Vanessa Redgrave.[19]
Between 1997 and 2003 Stephen served as Director of the National Film and Television School of Great Britain, was responsible for establishing a master’s degree programme validated by the Royal College of Art, and helped build the NFTS’ reputation as one the top film schools in the world.[20][21]
TEACHING
In 2004 Bayly enrolled at the Actors Temple in London, a training centre for actors specializing in the techniques of Sanford Meisner.[22] He studied Meisner’s methods intensively and since 2007 has become a globally recognized specialist in teaching directors and actors. In addition to private workshops and film consultancy[23], he has taught for the Directors Guild of Great Britain (now defunct), Skillset (ScreenSkills), the Film Agency Wales (Ffilm Cymru Wales), as well as for institutions in several countries abroad including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia[24], Nigeria, Panama, Spain and the USA (Harvard University). In 1922 a documentary was made about Bayly’s Working with Actors workshop at the University of Chile, entitled Ojo en la Pared (Eye in the Wall), director Antonio Caro.[25]Bayly lives part of the year in Havana, Cuba, where he directs theatre and teaches at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión. His theatre work includes directing Spanish language versions of Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange, and Martin Sherman’s Bent, both presented at the Teatro Bertolt Brecht.
PERSONAL LIFE
Bayly was long-term partner of Linda James, film and television producer, and cofounder of Red Rooster Film and Television. They met in 1980 and were married 1991-2011. Their daughter is British film producer Savannah James-Bayly. Bayly is currently married to Cuban/British film and theatre director, Jazz Martinez-Gamboa. The couple split their time between homes in London and Havana. He is a member of BAFTA and Directors UK.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stephen Bayly, Working with Actors: Meisner Technique for Directors and Actors (London, Bloomsbury) 2023, ISBN 9781350295285
Stephen Bayly, Acting Realism: from Garrick to Meisner and Beyond (London, Bloomsbury), Nov. 2025 ISBN 9781350320215
FILMOGRAPHY
Film and Video
Distributor
Too Late to Die Young (2018)
Script Consultant, Director Thanks
Julian’s Garden (2009) Short
(Short) Actor
Mrs. Dalloway (1997) Curzon Film, RCV Film
Producer
Richard III (1995) MGM/UA Distribution
Producer
Just Ask For Diamond (1988) 20th Century Fox
Director
Coming up Roses (1986) Skouras Pictures, Mainline
Director
Rating Notman (1982)
(Short) Producer
The Great Escape (1971)
(Short) Producer
Loving Memory (1970) British Film Institute
Producer
Television
The Diamond Brothers: South by South East (1991)
(TV Series) Executive Producer
Aderyn Papur (And Pigs Might Fly) 1984
(TV Movie) Director
Joni Jones (1982)
(TV Mini-series) Director
Nouvelles d’Henry James (1976)
(TV Series) Producer 1 Episode:
The Author of Beltraffio (1976)
Producer
Self
Un Ojo en la Pared (An Eye in the Wall) (2022)
(Documentary) Self
Against the Dying of the Light (2001)
(Short docu) Self
REFERENCES
1. "Author of Beltraffio". https://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-author-of-beltraffio/y5WZUth0b4Sb7eTEIX4uy2/credits/
2. "Festival de Cannes: Coming Up Roses" . festival-cannes.com. Retrieved July 15, 2009.
3. "National Film and Television School" . nfts.co.uk. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
4.https://www.classmates.com/siteui/ybsearch/results?q=Stephen%20bayly&yearbookId=241704
5. Thouron
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_Memory
7. https://www.semainedelacritique.com/en/edition/1971/movie/loving-memory
8. IMdB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335934/
9. https://en.notrecinema.com/communaute/v1_detail_film.php3?lefilm=438112
10. IMdB, https://m.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0103567
11. "Disney’s Dance with the Dragon" https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/1506739/M._L._Woods_2007_2059510_Vol._2.pdf
12. IMdB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130404/
13. https://mubi.com/en/gb/films/aderyn-papur-and-pigs-might-fly and Cymraeg; https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aderyn_Papur
15. https://www.filmaffinity.com/ie/film888009.html
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Ask_for_Diamond
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Horowitz
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(1995_film)
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway_(film)
21. https://nfts.co.uk/article/14-years-pinnacle-nfts-named-top-global-film-school-hollywood-reporter
22. https://actors-temple.beta.parachute.digital/about-us/
23. IMdB, https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt8726098/filmmakers
24. https://www.proimagenescolombia.com/secciones/pantalla_colombia/breves_plantilla.php?id_noticia=5770
25. IMdB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24580570/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_0_in_0_q_ojo%2520en%2520l%2520pared Stephen Bayly (talk) 13:16, 1 July 2025 (UTC) Reply
- Adjusted the header and added the {{edit COI }} template to the body of your message. Will review some of the proposed additions unless somebody gets to it before me, but I'll note that any claims citing Wikipedia itself or WP:IMDB won't be added as those aren't reliable sources. WP:RSP may be helpful for determining the reliability of sources for future requests. Regards. Taffer 😊 💬 (she/they) 13:39, 1 July 2025 (UTC) Reply
- Partly done: From the usable sources that support claims, I added more titles to the filmography and added an early life section detailing education. Regards. Taffer 😊 💬 (she/they) 15:47, 1 July 2025 (UTC) Reply
