David Greene was born in Manchester, England, and originally trained as a journalist, working for the Walthamstow Guardian.
After training at RADA, he further perfected his craft at the renowned repertory theatre, the Oxford Playhouse, where he worked under the director Peter Ashmore.
He moved into British films in the same year, including some minor "classics" such as The Wooden Horse (1950).
[1] Most of his initial films as a director, however, were made and produced back in Britain, and it was only in the mid-1970s that he became firmly established in Hollywood as a filmmaker for television.
He had one child each with Vanessa Linsell, Thomasina Jones, Eileen Grace Jack and Katharine Blake.