His mother, Sadie, was an administrator at the hotel while his father, John, was in a partnership running an antiques and jewellery business.
He became involved in professional theatre after playing the lead in Love's Labour's Lost with English amateurs in Berlin.
He made his debut as a director with Jean Genet's Deathwatch at the Arts Theatre in 1960 and in 1961 was awarded an ABC Television traineeship, which took him to Northampton for a year as assistant producer.
He also directed Bertolt Brecht's In the Jungle of Cities and a stage adaptation of Robin Maugham's The Servant.
His one-man show with Max Adrian as George Bernard Shaw transferred to the West End and went on a world tour.