After graduation from Cambridge and a spell teaching in Sweden, Kevin Billington spent a year with the Economist Intelligence Unit before joining the BBC as a radio producer in 1959. A year later, he moved to Manchester and made his entry into television, producing the influential news magazine Tonight from 1960 to 1963. He worked extensively on documentaries, with films including A Sort of Paradise, Many Mexicos, The Mexican Attitude, Twilight of Empire, Matador and Madison Avenue USA. He was twice a BAFTA winner for his television documentary work, in 1966 and 1967, and nominated one further time at the Film Awards, also in 1967.
Turning freelance in 1968, Kevin branched into other areas, directing the feature drama Interlude (1968), the political satire The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970) and a Jules Verne adaptation, The Light at the Edge of the World (1971). He also found success directing an eclectic range of theatre productions, including a revival of The Birthday Party (1974), Bloody Neighbours (1975), a revival of The Caretaker (1976), The Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest (1985) and a touring production of Simon Gray’s Quartermaine’s Terms (1992).
In between, he returned to television where he combined documentary and drama with prodigious industry. His output included And No One Could Save Her (1972), Once Upon a Time... is Now (1977), Henry VIII (1979), The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (1980), The Good Soldier (1981), Outside Edge (1981), Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1983), Smith and Jones in Small Doses (1989) and A Time to Dance (1992). An occasional screenwriter, Kevin was a recipient of a Writers’ Guild award in 1968 for All the Queen’s Men (1967).
Kevin served as BAFTA chair between 1989 and 1991. During his tenure, BAFTA was starting to expand its activities internationally, particularly into the US with the introduction of the Britannia Awards by BAFTA Los Angeles in 1989 and the launch of BAFTA New York a year later. Elsewhere, BAFTA’s partnership with Shell during this time funded several international cultural exchange events, including an Anglo-Soviet film and television festival, held in Kiev, and a week of special film and television screenings in Tokyo. In 1991, BAFTA held a major British cultural festival for the Royal Family’s visit to Washington, their first visit since 1976, with HM The Queen and former BAFTA president HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in attendance.
Read Kevin Billington's Telegraph obituary
