Theatre Register

Willis Hall

Shows · Willis Hall

Book Writer 1929–2005

Willis Edward Hall (6 April 1929 – 7 March 2005) was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with his life-long friend Keith Waterhouse producing over 250 works. He wrote plays such as Billy Liar, The Long and the Short and the Tall, and Celebration; the screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind, A Kind of Loving and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain; and television programmes including Budgie, Worzel Gummidge and Minder. His passion for musical theatre led to a string of hits, including Wind in the Willows, The Card, and George Stiles' and Anthony Drewe's Peter…

Also credited on2 works

Darling of the Day
Whistle Down the Wind

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature6 passages

  • The book for Darling of the Day was first written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall; Peter Wood was set to direct and Geraldine Page to star. But E.Y. Harburg, the lyricist, did not see eye to eye with that team, so S. N. Behrman wrote a new book, and Albert Marre was hired to direct. That grouping didn’t work out either, and it fell to…ebooks/Mandelbaum, Ken/Not Since Carrie_ Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops - Ken Mandelbaum.txt
  • Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, British authors of the 1960 play and 1963 screenplay for Billy Liar, were announced as adaptors of the American Pickwick, but their billing was subsequently removed. Sidney Michaels was a promising young American playwright, albeit very briefly. He arrived in New York in 1961 and, we are told, managed to…ebooks/Suskin, Steven/B001T4YWBO EBOK - Steven Suskin.txt
  • The Card Music and lyrics by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent; book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, based on the novel by Arnold Bennett. Queen’s Theatre, 24 July 1973. PC: Jim Dale, Millicent Martin, Marti Webb, Joan Hickson, Dinah Sheridan, John Savident. MN: Hallelujah!; Nine till Five; Lead Me; Universal White Kid Gloves; Nobody Thoug…ebooks/Wright, Adrian/Tanner's Worth of Tune_ Rediscovering the post-war British Musical, A - Adrian Wright.txt
  • Joey Joey Music, lyrics and story by Ron Moody; book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. Saville Theatre, 11 October 1966. PC: Ron Moody, Vivienne Martin, Peter Pratt, Teddy Green, Joe Baker, Gordon Rollings, Ann Hamilton. MN: Typitywitchet; Where You Been Joe?; Friend; Our Place; You My Son; Flowers; Softly and Secretly; Mary; When You…ebooks/Wright, Adrian/Tanner's Worth of Tune_ Rediscovering the post-war British Musical, A - Adrian Wright.txt
  • Lost Empires Music by Denis King; lyrics and book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, based on the novel Lost Empires by J. B. Priestley. Darlington Civic Theatre, 15 May 1985 and tour. PC: Brian Rawlinson, Angela Richards, Peter Adamson, Julia Chambers, Leslie Randall, Peter Ledbury. MN: Till Ready; He’s a Shy Boy; You’re So Different;…ebooks/Wright, Adrian/Tanner's Worth of Tune_ Rediscovering the post-war British Musical, A - Adrian Wright.txt
  • PETER PAN & WENDY: THE ADVENTURES OF THE LOST BOYS Music by George Stiles; Lyrics, Anthony Drewe; Book, Willis Hall; Based on J. M. Barrie’s original play by kind permission of Great Ormond St. Children’s Hospital; Scenic Design, Fred Kinney; Costume Design, Loycetheatre-pdfs/Theatre World/Theatre World, 2002-03 Season, v. 59 (Willis).txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any staging. This name appears in no production cast list we hold — 1,877 of 7,139 people are in that position, most of them writers, composers and designers rather than performers.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — book writer — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.