Betty E. Box

While prolific, the quality of her output declined somewhat in the latter part of her career, and by the 1970s she and Thomas were reduced to making smarmy sex comedies such as Percy (1971) and It's Not the Size That Counts (1974), about a young man who had the world's first penis transplant.

She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1958 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to the film industry.

In the end, though, they turned out a string of sequels, one of which (Doctor at Sea (1955)) introduced French sex kitten Brigitte Bardot to British audiences.

After making several films at Gainsborough she went over to Pinewood Studios, where she turned out such well-received films as The Clouded Yellow (1950) and Doctor in the House (1954) in partnership with director Ralph Thomas. In fact, "Doctor in the House" was such a hit that the studio insisted that she and Thomas make more of them, despite the fact that they both wanted to move on to bigger and better things.

British producer Betty Box started out as a commercial artist. Her brother Sydney Box was a documentary filmmaker, and during World War II he asked Betty to join him at Verity Films. She took to it like a fish to water, and by the time the war ended she was in charge of almost a dozen documentary units at the studio. She stayed at Verity until 1946, when she was hired by Gainsborough Pictures to make features.