Terence Davies, the acclaimed English filmmaker who directed The Deep Blue Sea and The House Of Mirth, dies at 77 after a ‘short illness’

Terence Davies, the English filmmaker who directed several classic autobiographical films and literary adaptations including The House Of Mirth and The Neon Bible, has died at age 77.

Davies’ official Instagram account announced the news on Saturday, noting he had died ‘peacefully at home’ earlier in the day following a ‘short illness.’

The director and screenwriter, who was born in Liverpool in 1945, launched his career — and quickly became known as one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers — with the autobiographical films Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992).

Later, he followed those intimate films up with productions featuring major stars from the US and UK, including the divisive Gena Rowlands–starring adaptation of The Neon Bible (1995), the Gillian Anderson–fronted Edith Wharton adaptation The House Of Mirth (2000) and the romantic Drama The Deep Blue Sea (2011), which starred Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. 

Davies’ most recent feature film was 2021’s Benediction, in which both Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi played the English war poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Saying goodbye: Davies’ official Instagram announced that he had died on Saturday ‘peacefully at home’ following a ‘short illness’