Reginald H. F. Denham was born in London, England, in 1894.

He spent a good part of his career directing Broadway theatre, with a career spanning from the melodrama Rope's End (1929) by Patrick Hamilton, to the courtroom drama Hostile Witness (1966).

In 1930 he produced the First World War drama Suspense in the West End.

While they were married, Denham and Orr were writing partners.

His daughter with Macgill, Isolde Denham, married actor Peter Ustinov when they were both 19.