Peter Collinson (1 April 1936 – 16 December 1980) was a British film director whose notable credits include The Italian Job (1969).

Noël Coward, who was president of the orphanage at the time, became his godfather and helped him to obtain jobs in the entertainment industry, which was dramatized in the radio play Mr Bridger's Orphan by Marcy Kahan in 2013.

[2] Collinson's early television work included time as a floor manager for the BBC and directing for ATV at Elstree studios.

He also worked with Telefís Éireann, the Republic of Ireland's national TV station, and in 1963 he won a Jacob's Award for his production The Bomb.

Whilst working in TV he met producer Michael Klinger, who offered him the director role on the film The Penthouse (1967); this became Collinson's directorial debut.

He did a horror movie for Hammer Films, Straight On till Morning (1972), with Rita Tushingham, then Innocent Bystanders (1972), a thriller shot in Spain and Turkey with Stanley Baker.

[12] He followed it with Open Season (1974), starring Peter Fonda; a remake of And Then There Were None (1974), filmed in Iran with Oliver Reed; a remake of The Spiral Staircase (1975), shot in England with Jacqueline Bisset; Target of an Assassin (1976), filmed in South Africa with Anthony Quinn; and The Sell Out (1976), shot in Israel with Reed.