George Devine, a highly influential theatrical manager, was born on November 20, 1910, in London to Georgios Devine, who was half-Greek and half-Irish, and Ruth Eleanor Cassady, who was Irish-Canadian.
He joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) while reading history at Oxford, becoming president in 1932. There, he met his future wife, Sophie Devine, also known as Sophie Harris, during a production of "Romeo and Juliet" directed by John Gielgud, who had the costumes designed by "The Motley" team, which included Sophie and her sister, Margaret. The two married on October 27, 1939, after living together for several years.
After graduating from Oxford, George Devine joined Sophie in London and became an actor, appearing in several productions directed by Gielgud and functioning as The Motley's business manager. He co-founded the London Theatre Studio in 1936 and, in 1939, became a stage director with an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" (1946),starring Alec Guinness.
During World War II, he served in the Royal Artillery in India and Burma. Returning to London after the war, he helped co-found the Old Vic Theatre School and the Young Vic Company, though he was forced to resign in 1948, putting an end to the Young Vic until 1970. The dismissal did not hurt his career, as he had established himself as a top director in the theater and opera.
Tony Richardson, another Oxford graduate, began a collaboration with Devine after casting him in a TV adaptation of "Curtain Down," a short story by Anton Chekhov. Richardson shared Devine's ideas about transforming the English theater, and the two co-founded the English Stage Company.
The company launched its first season in 1956 at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square, launching itself with Angus Wilson's "The Mulberry Bush," which was a failure, as were the next two productions. However, the fourth production, John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" (1959),directed by Richardson, not only was a hit but also revolutionized the English theater, just as Devine and Richardson had set out to accomplish.
"Look Back in Anger" launched the careers of Richardson and Osborne. When Richardson later filmed the Oscar-winning adaptation of Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones" (1963),with a screenplay by Osborne, he cast Devine as "Squire Allworthy," Tom's benefactor.
Osborne's 1965 play, "A Patriot for Me," was to have a major impact on the English Stage Company and on Devine. The play, which dealt with the blackmailing of the Austro-Hungarian officer "Colonel Redl," a homosexual and possibly a Jew in a pre-World War One society that was virulently anti-gay and anti-Semitic, was opposed by The Lord Chamberlain, the theatrical censor in Britain.
The Lord Chamberlain demanded that the Royal Court make substantial cuts to sanitize the play, but Osborne and the English Stage Company refused. Denied a license for public exhibition, The Royal Court Theatre had to be turned into a private club in order to produce the play in London.
George Devine was appearing in "A Patriot for Me" when he suffered the heart attack that led to his death on January 20, 1966, at the age of 55.
