There is also an American Lawyer with the same name, see Peter W. Yates
Peter Yates (born 24 July 1929 in Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English film director and producer.
He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked for some years as an actor, director and stage manager.
In the 1950s he started in the movie industry as a dubbing assistant and later an assistant director for Tony Richardson.
He made his first film Summer Holiday (1963) and later One Way Pendulum (1965), before directing the crime thriller Robbery, a fictionalised version of the Great Train Robbery, in 1967. This lead to his first American film, Bullitt, the following year.
He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Director for the movie Breaking Away in 1979, and another for The Dresser, an adaptation of the popular stage play, in 1983.
