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Personal life. Rilla married the actress and director Valerie Hanson after they appeared together in a BBC television production of The Portugal Lady; the couple had a daughter, Madeleine, in 1955. In 1967, he married Shirley Graham-Ellis, a publicist for tea suppliers Jacksons of Piccadilly and London Films.
Wolf Rilla. Director: Village of the Damned. Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1920, Wolf Rilla was the son of German actor Walter Rilla. When Nazi leader Adolf Hitler came to power, the elder Rilla--who was Jewish--moved his family to London, England.
- March 16, 1920
- October 19, 2005
Wolf Peter Rilla was born in Berlin in 1920, the son of the actor-producer Walter Rilla. The family left Germany and settled in England in 1934. After graduating from Cambridge, Rilla joined the BBC, producing plays for radio and television.
Born in Germany of a Jewish father, he and his family moved to England when he was a teenager to avoid the rise of the Nazis to power. Here he attended St. Catharine's, Cambridge, earning an M.A. in 1945. Rilla's father had been an actor, and this interest in movies was passed down to his son.
The German-born director and writer Wolf Rilla had a prolific career in British television and cinema, and will be particularly remembered for his direction of the 1960 film Village of the...
Oct 19, 2005 · Wolf Rilla (1920–2005) was a film director and writer of German background, although he worked mainly in English.
Best remembered today for his seminal 1960 horror film "Village Of The Damned," Wolf Rilla's extensive career saw him flourish in multiple fields. His father, Walter Rilla, was a well-known half-Jewish actor who feared for his family's safety when Hitler came to power. In 1934, the family moved to London and Walter joined the BBC in 1939. After graduating from...
