b. 18 June 1928, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. After university Blakemore moved to London, training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his provincial stage debut in 1951 in The Barretts Of Wimpole Street. For several years he acted in UK repertory theatres and also began directing. He came to widespread notice with a London production of A Day In The Life Of Joe Egg (1967), which he directed on Broadway in 1968 and was nominated for a Tony Award. He was at the National Theatre in London in 1971 directing Laurence Olivier in a revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and in the West End directed a revival of Noël Coward’s Design For Living (1973), also working on the television adaptation of this production. For the Royal Shakespeare Company he directed Privates On Parade (1977) and in 1982 directed the film version of this play. In 1973 he began a long and fruitful association with Michael Frayn when he directed the playwright’s adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. This was followed by Frayn’s Make And Break (1980), The Benefactors (1984/Broadway 1985) and Noises Off (1984), winning a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination for the latter. In 1987 he directed Lettuce And Lovage in London and in 1989 City Of Angels on Broadway, gaining another Tony nomination, although the musical, with book by Larry Gelbart, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by David Zippel, was not a commercial success. Another Tony nomination came with the Broadway production of Lettuce And Loveage (1990). In 1994 Blakemore directed his own screenplay for the film, Country Life, which was based upon Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. In 1995 he directed an off-Broadway production of Death Defying Acts, three one-act plays by Woody Allen, David Mamet and Elaine May. Yet another Tony nomination came with The Life (1997), an ill-fated yet award-winning musical by Coleman. Blakemore won Tony and Drama Desk awards as Director of the 1999 revival of Kiss Me, Kate, repeating these same awards as director of Frayn’s play Copenhagen (2000), having directed the latter in London the previous year. In 2002 he directed the London production of Life After George. In 2004 he was back on Broadway with Frayn’s Democracy, which closed on 17 April 2005.