Jacob Michael Gold was born on 28 June 1930, in North London, the son of Charles and Minnie (née Elbery) Gold. He studied Economics and Law at
University College London. After leaving UCL, he began his career as a film editor on the BBC's
Tonight programme. Gold became a freelance documentary filmmaker, making dramas as a platform for his social and political observations. For television, his best known work is
The Naked Civil Servant (1975), based on
Quentin Crisp's
1968 book of the same name and starring
John Hurt, which won the Grand Prize at the San Remo Film Festival. He had previously directed the 1964 crime series
Call the Gun Expert for the BBC. Other television credits include
The Visit (1959), the
BBC Television Shakespeare productions of
The Merchant of Venice (1980) and
Macbeth (1983) - the latter starring
Nicol Williamson - as well as the made-for-TV adaptation of
Graham Greene's
The Tenth Man (1988), starring
Anthony Hopkins and
Charlie Muffin (1979, USA:
A Deadly Game). In 1998, he directed an award-winning-adaption of the 1981 children's book
Goodnight Mister Tom by
Michelle Magorian, featuring
John Thaw in the lead. He also directed films such as
The National Health (1973),
Man Friday (1975),
Aces High (1976),
The Medusa Touch (1978),
The Chain (1985) and
Escape from Sobibor (1987). Gold directed the final episode of
ITV's television
detective drama Inspector Morse. Other work includes the television drama series
Kavanagh QC and
The Brief. Gold was an Honorary Associate of
London Film School. ==Personal life==