Joanne Lesley Gilbert (7 June 1955 – 15 September 2018) was an English film producer and casting director based in Holywood, near Belfast, Northern Ireland, and ran Real Holywood Productions.[1][2]
Producing
At the time of her death, Jo Gilbert was in pre-production with the movie The Ribbon with Ed Burns and starring Julia Stiles[citation needed], and was producing the 40-part documentary series Great West End Theatres for Great Productions. In their review of the series, the British Theatre Guide said "This film is as close as one can get to standing on the stage taking an ovation. This series is beautifully filmed and gets the balance exactly right between classy camera work, history, reminiscence and gossip."[3]
As a casting director working on the 1997 film The Brylcreem Boys for the Producer/Director Terence Ryan, they were the first film to choose the Isle of Man as a location since the 1936 film No Limit starring George Formby. Ryan based his movie there and used various locations on the island to stand-in for Ireland.[8]
Gilbert appeared in a 2003 episode of the UK serialised fly on the wall documentary Airline, having missed an EasyJet flight to Belfast in which she attempted to use her vocation as a method of intimidating and bullying airport staff.
On 15 September 2018, she died of a brain tumour.[9]
