Carol Reed.

Born 30 Dec 1906 Putney, United Kingdom

Died 25 Apr 1976 Chelsea, United Kingdom

Citizenship United Kingdom

Would Be 119 yr If Living

13 min read

Reading time

2,456

Words

Jul 6, 2026

Published

Awards

TL;DR

Carol Reed won the Academy Award for Best Director for Oliver! 1968 and directed The Third Man 1949, a noir classic set in postwar Vienna. His work with Graham Greene produced The Fallen Idol 1948 and The Third Man. Knighted in 1952, Reed was a meticulous craftsman who directed with precision.

Identity & family.

KIN · 10

Names, aliases, and relatives of Carol Reed — birth name, kin, and personal ties.

Aliases Sir Carol Reed

Parents: Beatrice May Pinney Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Spouses: Penelope Dudley Ward Diana Wynyard
Children: Max Reed
Siblings: Juliet Reed Guy Reed Robin Reed Claude Reed Peter Reed

At a glance.

STATS

Carol Reed by the numbers — life, work, and family.

69 Years lived

3 Awards

2 Marriages

1 Child

Who was Carol Reed?

BIOGRAPHY

Carol Reed — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.

Early life

The second son of stage actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Beatrice May Pinney, Carol Reed was born on December 30, 1906, in Putney, London. He was one of Tree’s six illegitimate children and grew up in a well-mannered middle-class atmosphere. He attended The King’s School Canterbury. In 1922, his mother sent him to Massachusetts where his older brother lived on a chicken ranch; after six months Reed returned to England and joined a stage company of Dame Sybil Thorndike, making his stage debut in 1924.

Career

Carol Reed made his directorial debut with Midshipman Easy in 1935, but his first major success came with The Stars Look Down 1940 and Night Train to Munich 1940, the latter a comedy-thriller often seen as a sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes. He co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary The True Glory 1945 during World War II. After the war, Reed formed a partnership with writer Graham Greene, resulting in The Fallen Idol 1948 and The Third Man 1949, his best-known film. In the 1960s, he directed the musical Oliver! 1968, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director and the film won Best Picture.

Personal life

Carol Reed married actress Diana Wynyard in February 1943; they divorced in August 1947. He later married actress Penelope Dudley-Ward in January 1948, and they remained married until his death. They had one son, Max Reed. Reed had relationships with writer Daphne Du Maurier and actress Jessie Matthews. He suffered increasingly from deafness in his later years.

Legacy

Carol Reed’s influence extends to directors like Steven Spielberg, who has named him as an influence. His films The Fallen Idol 1948 and The Third Man 1949 are considered masterpieces of British cinema. In 2000, a retrospective of his work was held at the San Sebastián Film Festival. He was the first British film director to receive a knighthood primarily for his directing work in 1952. Graham Greene praised Reed’s precise craftsmanship and his ability to elicit strong performances from actors.

Awards & honors.

AWARDS · 3

Every award, honor, and recognition received by Carol Reed — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.

Academy Award for Best Director
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
Knight Bachelor

Notable quotes.

QUOTES · 18

A wall of memorable lines from Carol Reed — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.

To Be Any Good to a Director an Actor Must Either Be Wonderful, or Know Nothing About Acting. a Little Knowledge – That’s What Is Bad.
A Director Should Plan in Advance How a Scene Is to Be Played, but He Should Always Be Ready to Put the Camera Here Instead of There, and Change Everything at the Last Moment If He Comes Across a Better Way of Doing It.
I Think It Is the Director’s Job – as in the Old Theatre – to Convey Faithfully What the Author Had in Mind. Unless You Have Worked with the Author in the First Place You Cannot Convey to the Actors What He Had in Mind nor Can You Convey to the Editor at the End the Original Idea. in Making a Picture You Have Got to Go Back to the First Stage to See How Important Something May Be in Establishing This Scene or That Character.
The Work of Any Director Making Pictures in This Country Is Conditioined Absolutely by the Happy Ending. I Am Sure That This Is a Wrong-minded Policy and Keeps Many Intelligent Minded People Out of the Cinemas, for Whatever the Circumstances of a Story, the End Is Inevitably the Same, Boy Gets Girl.
All I Believe the Director Can Do Is to Approach His Subject with a Meticulously Prepared List of Scenes to Be Shot with Their General Description and the Dialogue Entailed in Each, and an Absolutely Clear Idea of the Effect He Wants to Achieve.
It’s Dull to Stick to the Same Sort of Subject and Bad for One’s Work into the Bargain. Repetition Makes a Director Grow Stale in His Job, and Lose His Grip as an Entertainer. I Happen to Love a Dark Street, with Wet Cobbles, and a Small Furtive Figure Under a Lamp at the Corner. Whenever I Go on Location, I Instinctively Look for Something of That Kind. Now That Is Bad; Thoroughly Bad for Me, and Tedious for the Public. Variety Is an Essential Exercise to a Director. Every New Film Should Be a New Beginning, and Nobody Should Ever Be Able to Say with Any Certainty, Oh, That’a a Carol Reed Subject, or That’s Not a Carol Reed Subject. It’s Doing the Particular Job Well – and Every Sort of Job – That Primarily Interests Me. I Don’t Think the Type of Subject Matters Much.
I Believe It Is Essential That the Director and the Editor Should Work Closely Together Right Through the Picture – and I Like Working with the Same Editor. You Get Used to Working Together – Otherwise You’re Only Beginning to Know Each Other by the End of the Picture.
Picture-making Is Often Sheer Misery. Planning Them Is Great Fun. Making Them Is Rather Like Riding on a Switchback at a Fair; You Hardly Dare Imagine What Is Coming Next.
I Don’t Think People Care What Sort of Kitchen Curtains I Have. I Don’t Think They Care About the Technical People. Stars Are the Draw. They Earn Their Publicity. It Brings the People In. but No One Would Go to See a Film Because It Was Directed by Carol Reed.
There Is Nothing Worse Than a Film That Is Directed by Someone Who Has Little or No Knowledge of the Habits or Ways of the Country Concerned in the Picture. for Instance, I Would Never Make a Film with an American College Background, I Would Be Bound to Make Too Many Mistakes.
I Make Films for the Public, but in a Manner That I Like Myself. I Don’t Know What the Public Wants, and I Doubt Whether the Public Does Either. Peole Like a Good Picture, so You Have to Make a Film on Trust, Knowing That If It Is Good People Will Like It.
After You’ve Been Shooting Awhile and Are Looking at Your Footage as You Go, You Begin to See the Picture Taking Shape, Establishing a Rhythym of It’s Own. Things Begin to Fall into Place of Themselves. That’s When You Begin to Feel the Picture’s Natural Pace and You Develop It. You Can Then Work with the Actors and Mould and Shape It.
I Don’t Believe the Cinema Is a Place for Little Lectures on How Everybody Should Live. I Don’t Think Audiences Want Them Either, Unless They Are Very Original and Striking. Personally I Dislike the Infusion of Amateur Politics into Films. Certainly That Is Not the Director’s Job.
Films Are Made in Fear and Worry and Panic. There Is No Happiness in This Business.
The Whole Thing Is in the Preparation. I Like to Work Three Months or More on a Script and Come to the Floor with It Finished to the Letter.
The Worst Thing One Can Say to a Child When Aiming a Camera at Him Is, Act Naturally. That Will Shrivel Him on the Spot. Children Are Natural Actors but You Must Give Them Something to Act. However Many Children You Are Going to Film, Give Each One a Separate Identity. Tell the Little Boy to Pretend the Bicycle Is One He Has Just Won in a Competition. Tell the Little Girl She Is a Princess in Disguise. Give Them Something to Work with and Think About Before the Filming Begins. Watch How One Boy Flicks His Hair or Rubs His Nose, How a Girl Twists Her Braids and Rubs One Foot Behind Her Leg. How They Eat, How They Smile, How They Show Shyness or Jealousy by Jumping up and Down or Pouting in a Certain Way. Then, When You Are Ready to Film, Re-enact Their Own Mannerisms to Them and Ask Them to Imitate You. in Fact, They Will Be Doing What Comes Naturally to Them.
Following the Picture Through to the Last Detail Is Critical, Terribly Important. You Know, Not Enough Directors Are Willing to Do This. They Are Too Eager to Run off and Play in the South of France – They Want Their Money Fast and Easy. as Soon as Shooting Is Over They’re Thinking of the Next Picture and Are Willing to Turn the Current One Over to the Studio to Cut. They’re Apt to Say, I’m Too Close to the Picture Now. That’s Nonsense. to Make a Good Film You’ve Got to Sit Down at the Moviola Day After Day – All Day – Running the Footage Over and Over, Trying Combinations.
I Give the Public What I Like and Hope They Like It, Too.

Did you know?

FACTS · 19

Little-known facts about Carol Reed — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.

He was the uncle of actor Oliver Reed.
He did not rate Alfred Hitchcock very highly, as he thought that the best directors should display their range through filming a variety of subjects, whereas Hitchcock chose to direct mainly thrillers.
When Reed resigned as director of Mutiny on the Bounty 1962, he claimed that it was a result of disagreements with producer Aaron Rosenberg, not star Marlon Brando. Brando always said he admired Reed and supported him in arguments with Rosenberg.
He was the illegitimate son of Herbert Beerbohm Tree Reed’s mother, May Reed, was Tree’s mistress.
His lovers included Daphne Du Maurier and Jessie Matthews.
He worked in close collaboration with writer Graham Greene in the late 1940s, producing two of his greatest films: The Fallen Idol 1948 and The Third Man 1949.
Steven Spielberg has named him as an influence.
In 1952, he became arguably the first British film director to receive a knighthood for his craft; while producer/director Alexander Korda and actor/director Laurence Olivier had previously been knighted, Reed was the first to receive the distinction primarily for his directing work.
He is buried at Gunnersbury Cemetery in West London. His widow Penelope was laid to rest beside him following her death in 1982.
He was step-father of actress Tracy Reed.
He had a son Max from his marriage to Penelope Dudley-Ward.
He directed two Oscar-nominated performances: Ron Moody and Jack Wild, both for Oliver! 1968.
He suffered increasingly from deafness in his later years, which made him less and less inclined to direct films.
One of his earliest mentors was writer Edgar Wallace.
A retrospective of his work was held at the 48th Donostia-San Sebastián Film Festival in 2000.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945. Pages 917-923. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
He planned to film Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s The Blue Lagoon for Gaumont-British as an epic in the way Gone with the Wind 1939 was made in Hollywood, with the intention of telling the story as a triptych.
He died only one day before Sidney James, whom he directed in both A Kid for Two Farthings 1955 and Trapeze 1956.
Quit after several months as director of Mutiny on the Bounty 1962 because he found he was unable to handle Marlon Brando’s ego. He was unaware that the studio had given Brando control of the picture.

You wanted to know.

FAQ · 35

Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Carol Reed.

When was Carol Reed born?

Carol Reed was born on December 30, 1906.
Where was Carol Reed born?

Carol Reed was born in Putney, London, England, UK.
When did Carol Reed die?

Carol Reed died on April 25, 1976.
How did Carol Reed die?

Carol Reed died of a heart attack.
Where did Carol Reed die?

Carol Reed died in Chelsea, London, England, UK.
How old was Carol Reed when he died?

Carol Reed was 69 years old when he died.
What was Carol Reed's occupation?

Carol Reed was a director, producer, and assistant director.
What nationality was Carol Reed?

Carol Reed was British.
What language did Carol Reed speak?

Carol Reed spoke English.
Who were Carol Reed's parents?

Carol Reed’s parents were Beatrice May Pinney and Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
Who was Carol Reed married to?

Carol Reed was married to Penelope Dudley Ward and Diana Wynyard.
Did Carol Reed have children?

Yes, Carol Reed had one son, Max Reed.
Did Carol Reed have any siblings?

Yes, Carol Reed had five siblings: Juliet, Guy, Robin, Claude, and Peter Reed.
Where did Carol Reed go to school?

Carol Reed attended The King’s School Canterbury.
What awards did Carol Reed win?

Carol Reed won the Academy Award for Best Director, the National Board of Review Award for Best Film, and was knighted as a Knight Bachelor.
How many awards did Carol Reed win?

Carol Reed won at least three major awards.
What is Carol Reed best known for?

Carol Reed is best known for directing The Third Man 1949 and Oliver! 1968.
How tall was Carol Reed?

Carol Reed was 6 feet 2 inches 1.88 meters tall.
What was Carol Reed's alias?

Carol Reed was also known as Sir Carol Reed after his knighthood.
When did Carol Reed make his directorial debut?

Carol Reed made his directorial debut in 1935 with Midshipman Easy.
Did Carol Reed win an Oscar for The Third Man?

No, Carol Reed did not win an Oscar for The Third Man, although it won the Grand Prix at Cannes. He won the Best Director Oscar for Oliver!.
Who was Carol Reed's frequent collaborator?

Carol Reed frequently collaborated with writer Graham Greene, especially on The Fallen Idol 1948 and The Third Man 1949.
Was Carol Reed knighted?

Yes, Carol Reed was knighted in 1952, becoming the first British film director to receive the honor primarily for directing.
Where is Carol Reed buried?

Carol Reed is buried at Gunnersbury Cemetery in West London, alongside his wife Penelope.
Did Carol Reed have any famous relatives?

Yes, his nephew was actor Oliver Reed.
What was Carol Reed's first film as director?

His first film as director was Midshipman Easy in 1935.
How many Oscars did Oliver! win?

Oliver! won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Carol Reed.
Did Carol Reed serve in World War II?

He directed wartime films, including the documentary The True Glory 1945, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary.
What was the cause of Carol Reed's death?

Carol Reed died of a heart attack.
Did Carol Reed have a son?

Yes, he had a son named Max Reed with his wife Penelope Dudley-Ward.
What was Carol Reed's relationship with Marlon Brando?

Reed directed Brando in Mutiny on the Bounty but resigned due to conflicts, although he cited producer Aaron Rosenberg, not Brando.
Who influenced Carol Reed?

His early mentor was writer Edgar Wallace, and later he was influenced by the need for realism in location shooting.
What is Carol Reed's most famous film noir?

His most famous film noir is The Third Man 1949.
Did Carol Reed direct any musicals?

Yes, he directed the musical Oliver! 1968, his first and only musical.
What was Carol Reed's height?

Carol Reed was 6 feet 2 inches 1.88 meters tall.

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Audited & updated by

Olivia has 6 years of experience writing biographical profiles and still approaches every subject like it's the first one. She covers everyone from debut musicians to Hall of Fame athletes to novelists most people have never heard of. She finds something worth reading in all of them. Her drafts tend to come in already clean, which her editor appreciates. She says good writing is just good thinking written down. Hard to argue with that.

Published on July 6, 2026

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