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Kubrick used him again on a fine, unusual western – with, again, intimations of sadism – One Eyed Jacks (1961), working with Guy Trosper, but eventually directed by its star and (uncredited) producer, Marlon Brando, who took over from Kubrick.Writing with Buck Henry, Willingham had his greatest commercial success with The Graduate (1967), directed by Mike Nichols, from Charles Webb’s novel, in which Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) seduced young Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman). Kirk Douglas employed him on an original screenplay, The Vikings (1958), and then on Paths of Glory (1959), in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick (who directed) and Jim Thompson, from Humphrey Cobb’s novel about the French unit which mutinied in the First World War. Jack Garfein directed, using most of the Broadway cast, it then being considered that audiences would accept non-star casts, provided that the subject was treated realistically. In the US the film was called The Strange One, but in Britain it reverted to its original title.
There have since been other films equally indignant about these institutions – Taps (1981), The Lords of Discipline (1983) – but none quite as acrid as this, with Jocko (Ben Gazzara) revelling in the admiration of a fellow-student or embarking on his nefarious pursuits in his “lights- out” outfit of cap, Hawaiian shirt, black shorts and black silk socks and garters.Although Willingham was to publish 10 novels in all, none of them made much impact in Britain but they were in any case overshadowed by some outstandingly successful screenplays. Sam Spiegel, fresh from On the Waterfront and in the midst of producing The Bridge on the River Kwai, saw it and assigned Willingham to write the screenplay. The book was taken up by the Actors’ Studio, who improvised a play from it – which so impressed those who saw it that it was presented on Broadway.

Willingham, drawing on his own experience, wrote about one such establishment, in Florida, indicating that discipline and corruption went hand in hand, with the inevitable bullying supplied in this case by Jocko de Paris, a congenital sadist who enjoyed nothing so much as watching other cadets squirm. Willingham’s inference was that such places breed such men, and he made his point in unrhetorical prose which made the message very much sharper. Supported by his wife, Christine, who became a main board director particularly responsible for housing in Britain, he wanted everyone to know what Taylor Woodrow stood for – good quality at a fair price.From the time I joined the Monarch Development Corporation in the late 1950s up to the time in 1992 when I was appointed chairman of the group, I was always very aware of the way in which Frank Taylor, or “FT” as he was known in the company, worked to build and motivate teams throughout the world. He was an individual of extraordinary commercial ability and commitment.Colin ParsonsFrancis Taylor, businessman: born 7 January 1905; founder, Taylor Woodrow Group 1921, managing director 1935-79, chairman 1937-74, life president 1979-95; Kt 1974; created 1982 Baron Taylor of Hadfield; married 1929 (two daughters; marriage dissolved), 1956 Christine Hughes (one daughter); died Sarasota, Florida 15 February 1995.. The novelist Calder Willingham was best-known in Britain for the film End as a Man (1957), an indictment of an institution foreign to that country, the military academy where male adolescents are sent to do their schooling – mainly, but not always, with the aim of an army career to follow.

While the company developed organically from housebuilding into construction, property and trading, Taylor remained a house- builder at heart. He only retired from the board of Taylor Woodrow in 1992, after 69 years of service.Although a man of staunch right-wing political principles, Taylor also had a strong desire to allow members of his team at all levels to enjoy the company’s success through the wide distribution of shares. Although knighted in 1974 and invested for his services to the UK as Lord Taylor of Hadfield in 1982, he shunned personal acclaim; preferring to recognise his success as the product of a team effort – a team that now numbers around 8,500.Frank Taylor was one of the last of the old school of entrepreneurs, whose passion was focused not just on the business but on the people within that business. One of his tenets of management was to allow people to take responsibility young and give them the licence to make mistakes – but only once He did not suffer fools but he did take risks with people.

On site inspections around the world, he would often scale a ladder to check that the roof of a house had been built to the correct specification – or he would turn up at 6.30 in the morning, before the superintendent arrived, to check work standards for himself.He believed in teamwork, having no staff, only team members. Whilst he had the ability to think on the grandest of scales, he kept a remarkable eye for small detail. Be it building airfields and sea defences or helping to construct the Mulberry Harbours during the Second World War, becoming involved in the first nuclear power stations and major airport tunnels, or indeed expanding construction activities into the Middle East, Far East, Caribbean and Africa, he retained almost missionary verve.In confronting these new challenges, Taylor still maintained his basic values of hard graft and doing “a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage”. In 1953, following a lightning visit to Canada, he acquired almost overnight a controlling interest in the Monarch group of companies.

This fascination with North America was to be an abiding one and included the construction of the award-winning 3,500-home Meadows development in Florida – where he was staying when he died.The relentless need to expand and to push back boundaries was part and parcel of Taylor’s personality. He bought a site which other builders had passed by because of the drainage difficulties. He solved those difficulties and went on to build 1,200 homes.By 1935, Taylor Woodrow had become a public company and Taylor had begun to expand the company’s skills into general contracting activities in Britain and to explore the opportunities in housing development in the United States. In the early 1930s he persuaded his entire team to uproot and move south from Blackpool to Hayes in Middlesex. He had helped in the shop almost as soon as he could walk and, following the death of his younger brother, was left in charge of the business while his father took his mother away to recuperate.