John Howlett(1940-2019)
- Writer
- Additional Crew
John Howlett is a novelist, biographer and writer for film, radio,
television and stage. He read History at Jesus College, Oxford where,
with his school-friend from Tonbridge, David Sherwin, they wrote
Crusaders, the original screenplay that later in the 1960's became
Lindsay Anderson's award-winning film If... By that time John was also
working on scripts with the English directors Seth Holt and Peter
Duffell - and on a film version (never made) of I Claudius for Tony
Richardson. After his early novels and biographies, John worked for
many years in Italy (the country of his mother and his wife). He
became, in his own words, 'a jobbing screen-writer for hire all round
Europe' and was commissioned to produce original drama and adaptations
for RAI and for Italian/German/French/Scandinavian co-productions,
while continuing the research and writing of his own projects. His
television credits include 'Murder of a Moderate Man', the adaptation
of Len Deighton's 'Game, Set and Match', and Roy Battersby's revival of
Doomwatch in 'Winter Angel'. Also 'Where Were You That Night?', 'Bonne
Chance Frenchie', and 'Colpa di Coda'.
With Robert Campbell, John wrote the musical 'Dean' - the short triumph and tragedy of the actor James Dean, performed in London's West End and in Japan for many years (John and Robert with the composer Theo Jaskolowski have now written a new musical drama on the life and death of Federico Garcia Lorca).
From wartime childhood and through his student and working life, John has had a deep involvement in 20th Century history - always conscious how that history affected the four sides of his and his wife's families in England, Italy and Sicily. He is working on the Harry Cardwell series of novels ('Love of an Unknown Soldier') which will carry history and fact, with fiction, from 1916 into the new Millennium.
John and his wife now live in Rye, East Sussex. Their two daughters are both teachers, Isabel living in Barcelona with Toni and Francesco, Suzanne in Stockwell, south London with Marcus, Naira, Marco Salvatore and Malakai.
With Robert Campbell, John wrote the musical 'Dean' - the short triumph and tragedy of the actor James Dean, performed in London's West End and in Japan for many years (John and Robert with the composer Theo Jaskolowski have now written a new musical drama on the life and death of Federico Garcia Lorca).
From wartime childhood and through his student and working life, John has had a deep involvement in 20th Century history - always conscious how that history affected the four sides of his and his wife's families in England, Italy and Sicily. He is working on the Harry Cardwell series of novels ('Love of an Unknown Soldier') which will carry history and fact, with fiction, from 1916 into the new Millennium.
John and his wife now live in Rye, East Sussex. Their two daughters are both teachers, Isabel living in Barcelona with Toni and Francesco, Suzanne in Stockwell, south London with Marcus, Naira, Marco Salvatore and Malakai.
