Ben Dolt, a well-loved director from shows like Dowton Abbey and Doc Martin, has died at the age of 73 after a two-year-battle with cancer
Ben Bolt, the director of shows like Downton Abbey and Doc Martin, has passed away following his two-year battle with cancer at the age of 73.
Ben’s death was revealed in an obituary written in The Times on Thursday, June 19. Within the obituary, his cancer was disclosed to be leukemia and his actual death day was on May 10. It was also revealed that his daughter Molly Bolt, a film producer with House Productions, has accompanied him for all of his appointments with his doctors and consultant. during his last two years as he was battling the blood cancer. The late director is survived by his only daughter with his late actress wife Jo Ross (who died in 2023) and grandson Leo, who was welcomed six months before his death.
Ben, full name Benedict Lawrence Bolt, was born on May 9, 1952 to Jo (née Roberts) and Robert Bolt. His mother was a novelist while his Dad was a screenwriter, who penned the screenplays to Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Man for All Seasons. Ben’s father was also a teacher at Millfield School.
Ben’s parents divorced when he was ten and his father married actress Sarah Miles. Despite seeing less of his father during his second marriage, the two maintained a close bond. Following Robert’s stroke, he lived with Ben and his wife Jo for a time. When Ben’s father died in 1995, he entrusted him with the duty to protect his work in his will.
Ben died from leukemia
Ben ended up following in his father’s footstep within the industry as he ended up loving film as he joined his father on sets as a young child. This made him desire to begin a career in the film industry and so he registered at the National Film School. Later in life, he came back to the school as a lecturer and is “remembered by former students as a mentor with a bottomless well of encouragement and advice.”
He initially went to the Courtauld Institute of Art but dropped out. Although, he maintained his love for drawing as he continued to do it all his life.
Ben got his first break as a freelance TV director in the mid-1970s, when he headed the episodes of the ITV dramas Van der Valk and The Sweeney, and BBC’s Target. In the mid-1980s, Ben was scouted by the American networks and fly out to Los Angeles to meet for his curiousity. He ended up being offered NBC’s Hill Street Blues and moved to the Hollywood Hills. He additionally directed episodes of L.A. Law.
His time in Hollywood was short lived as he returned to Britain in the 1990s. He then directed the lauded TV mini-series Scarlet and Black starring Ewan McGregor, Rachel Weisz and his wife as well as Wilderness starring Gemma Jones
He also direct several made-for-TV films including an adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw with Colin Firth in 1999. He went on to direct Doc Martin, which lasted for ten season. The comedy drama was one of Ben’s prominent successes as he directed the show’s premiere in 2003 and did it for five season till 2011.
Ben’s long-time friend, executive producer Gareth Neame, sent him the script to Downton Abbey and asked him if he would be interested in directing a few episodes. At the time, he was working on Doc Martin but Ben said yes and direct the first three episodes. The two worked together prior on the 1998 thriller Getting Hurt which was a part of the BBC’s Obsessions series.
Ben also dabbled in writing scripts, mirroring his dad, for episodes of Doc Martin which was something his family encouraged him to do more. His final project was acting as a consultant for his father’s play A Man for All Seasons that is currently touring. It is expected to come to the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre in August. Ben had attended the read-throughs and rehearsals as well as went to a performance at the Oxford Playhouse with his daughter three months before his death.
Throughout the obituary, Ben was praised for his craft through people who have worked with him. He was stated as “going the extra mile” as a director.
“However hairy things got, everyone on set knew Ben would protect the integrity of the work,” one of the actors who worked with him said.
“He always made the job fun, even when we were inevitably running over to get that one last take,” another of his actors recounted.
