 Thomas Ernest Bennett Clarke was a celebrated Ealing alumnus, widely known as Tibby, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for The Lavender Hill Mob (d. Charles Crichton, 1951).
Clarke worked in journalism, advertising and the police force before coming to Ealing (1943-57), and this varied experience feeds the naturalistic observation underpinning such eccentric comedies as Hue and Cry (d. Charles Crichton, 1946), Passport to Pimlico (d. Henry Cornelius, 1949), The Lavender Hill Mob, and The Titfield Thunderbolt (d. Crichton, 1953).
Though his name is associated with these affectionately remembered comedies, two points should be noted: he also wrote serious films such as The Blue Lamp (d. Basil Dearden, 1949), a tribute to the London police; and he did not write the more astringent Ealing comedies, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets (d. Robert Hamer, 1949) or The Man in the White Suit (d. Alexander Mackendrick, 1951). His sensibility seems to have chimed most harmoniously with director Charles Crichton, for whom he wrote seven screenplays, including the post-Ealing Law and Disorder (1958), and with Basil Dearden, for whom he worked on six.
His post-Ealing films included versions of A Tale of Two Cities (d. Ralph Thomas, 1958) and Sons and Lovers (d. Jack Cardiff, 1960), though he preferred original screenplays, and the US-backed, creatively British caper, A Man Could Get Killed (US, d. Cliff Owen, 1966).
He was awarded the OBE in 1952, and published his autobiography, This Is Where I Came In, in 1974, as well as writing fifteen novels and a stage play. Bibliography
Ealing Studios by Charles Barr (1993)
Brian McFarlane, Encyclopaedia of British Cinema
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