Editing Lewis Gilbert (section)

==Early life==
Lewis Gilbert was born as '''Louis Laurie Isaacs''' in [[Clapton, London]],<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380491|title=Gilbert, Lewis (1920–2018) |year=2022 |last1=McFarlane |first1=Brian }}</ref> to a second-generation family of [[music hall]] performers,<ref name="BFI_biography">[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/829716/index.html "Lewis Gilbert (1920)"], BFI screenonline Retrieved 14 April 2012</ref> and spent his early years travelling with his parents, Ada (Griver), who was of [[Jewish]] descent,<ref>Olivier Holmey (5 March 2018), [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lewis-gilbert-dead-death-dies-bond-director-alfie-education-rita-profile-a8240366.html "Lewis Gilbert: Bond director behind era-defining British films Alfie, Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita"], [[The Independent]]. Retrieved 22 August 2018.</ref> and George Gilbert, and watching the shows from the wings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lewis-gilbert-dead-death-dies-bond-director-alfie-education-rita-profile-a8240366.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lewis-gilbert-dead-death-dies-bond-director-alfie-education-rita-profile-a8240366.html |archive-date=14 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Remembering Lewis Gilbert, director behind Bond and Shirley Valentine|date=5 March 2018|website=The Independent}}</ref> He first performed on stage at the age of five, when asked to drive a trick car around the stage. This pleased the audience, so this became the finale of his parents' act. When travelling on trains, his parents frequently hid him in the luggage rack, to avoid paying a fare for him. His father contracted [[tuberculosis]] as a young man and died aged 34, when Gilbert was seven.

Gilbert was a child actor in the 1920s and 1930s, but soon after the death of his father, his mother was unable to financially support him, while she was a film extra, and this led to Gilbert being taken in by his aunt Daisy Gilbert, with frequent visits from his mother.

Daisy Gilbert was a known Vaudeville performer in the duo "The Dancing Gilbert Sisters", who performed at venues such as the Hackney Empire, and Tivoli in Australia. And it was Daisy Gilbert's husband Harry Rosen, who was a known retailer at the time, who helped Gilbert financially when he wanted to become a film director in the early stages of his career.

During this time Gilbert had many difficulties with his formal education, but In 1933, at the age of 13, he had a role in [[Victor Hanbury]] and [[John Stafford (producer)|John Stafford]]'s ''[[Dick Turpin (1933 film)|Dick Turpin]]'', and at age 17 a small uncredited role in ''[[The Divorce of Lady X]]'' (1938) opposite [[Laurence Olivier]].

It was Daisy Gilbert, who helped him to get the role in ''[[The Divorce of Lady X]],'' with the intention that Gilbert would be credited for it.

Later [[Alexander Korda]] offered to send him to [[RADA]], but Gilbert chose to study direction instead, assisting [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Jamaica Inn (film)|Jamaica Inn]]'' (1939).<ref name="BFI_biography"/>

When the [[Second World War]] started, he joined the [[Royal Air Force]]'s [[RAF Film Unit|film unit]], where he worked on various documentary films. He was eventually seconded to the [[First Motion Picture Unit]] of the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]], where his commanding officer was [[William Keighley]], an American film director, who allowed Gilbert to take on much of his film-making work.