Clive Perry was an outstanding director and administrator of several British theatres. He had the knack of inspiring all members of a company through his sheer dedication and enthusiasm. On stage he brought to his productions a zest and love of theatre to which audiences and actors instantly responded.

But Perry was also a remarkable chooser of assistants. His protégés included Richard Eyre,Bill Bryden, Peter Farago, Kenneth Ireland, Bill Pryde and Derek Nicholls. He recognised talent in individuals and with his encouragement allowed their talent to flourish.

Clive Perry was born in Harrow and went up to Cambridge to read English in 1957. There he had an outstanding university career as president of the Marlowe Society and secretary of the drama group ADC.

After National Service in Fife — learning Czech — Perry joined Thames Television’s directors’ training scheme. In 1960 he moved to the Derby Playhouse as an assistant director. His promise was such that within a year he had been appointed the founding artistic director of the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester. It was while there that he met an aspiring actor called Richard Eyre. Perry, however, recognised a potential director.

Eyre, now Sir Richard, recalls that he was in the 1966 Christmas show and persuaded Perry to allow him to direct a play in his spare time. After the performance Perry approached Eyre and quietly said: “If you want to be a director, you can be one. I’m not so sure you’ll be an actor.”

After five years in Leicester Perry took over as artistic director from Tom Fleming at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. It proved an inspired appointment and the Lyceum was soon recognised as a force in British theatre. He reduced ticket prices and appointed Eyre as his assistant and later director of productions.

Perry harboured the talents of existing Scottish actors such as Rikki Fulton, Una McLean and Edith MacArthur and set in hand a series of productions that ranged from the classics to innovative new plays.

Authors he encouraged included Robert McLellan, David Halliwell and John McGrath: though one of his early successes was his own adaptation of Jennifer Dawson’s novel The Ha-Ha.

Perry supported Eyre when he set up a project close to Perry’s heart: the Young Playgoers Club (later the Lyceum Youth Theatre). In 1972 Perry achieved a long-term wish when he opened the Young Lyceum at the Netherbow on the Royal Mile. There he mounted challenging new work and, during the 1973 Edinburgh Festival, Perry rented a tent on Leith Links and directed a contemporary version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and two new musicals.

In 1968 the Lyceum had one of its biggest commercial successes when it put on The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with Pehoe Ainley in the title role and Lennox Milne as the headmistress.

In 1970 Perry was given the title of director of Edinburgh Theatres and Eyre was really in charge at the Lyceum. Perry’s decade at Edinburgh had been hugely influential and his support for Scottish theatre was immeasurable. Another of his crucial appointments was that of Bill Bryden as an associate director in 1971 with a special brief to produce contemporary Scottish plays.

In 1976 Perry became artistic director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and again he surrounded himself with talented young assistants. Peter Farago, Bill Pryde and Derek Nicholls all directed some memorable productions and actors such as Alan Rickman and David Suchet were seen on stage. The finances of such theatres at the end of the 1970s were on a knife-edge and Perry knew not many risks could be taken.

He initiated many new schemes to improve the Rep’s income. In 1978 he set up an imaginative subscription scheme and put Nicholls in charge of the Young Company. Perry arranged for transfers to London and brought in productions from touring companies.

But he insisted that the Rep must do enterprising work and a remarkable production of Man and Superman with Peter O’Toole was followed at Christmas by Worzel Gummidge with the original TV cast led by Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs. Danny LaRue was seen in Hello, Dolly! and, in 1981, Perry directed As You Like It and Farago directed Candide. Both productions had very successful runs at that year’s Edinburgh Festival.

The Pitlochry Festival offered Perry the post of artistic director in 1987 and he revitalised the theatre in the Highlands with some adventurous programming and casting. Among the memorable productions he oversaw were Jimmy Logan in Death of a Salesman and Edith MacArthur in A Long Day’s Journey into Night: typical of Perry’s ability to spot talent he cast, as one of the sons, David Tennant — the current Doctor Who.

In 1990 Perry moved into the world of academia and became Professor of Drama at Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh. There he created and energised the drama department. When he retired in 1995 his work was recognised and he was made professor emeritus. In 1998 he was appointed OBE.

Clive Perry was an inspirational figure for many actors, directors and administrators. Many are working in the theatre today who benefited from that initial “Perry-boost” when young. Sir Richard Eyre is typical of many when he says: “He allowed me to learn on the job: the classics, contemporary and new plays. He even presented a play which I had written and allowed me to direct it. No director could have had a luckier start — the luck to have the right person take an interest in you at the right time in your life.”

He was unmarried.

Clive Perry, OBE, theatre administrator and director, was born on March 17, 1936. He died of cancer on November 11, 2006, aged 70