Actor-director Tim Roth, TCM's Guest Programmer for May, was born in London and scored early successes in British television and such films as Vincent & Theo and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He gained more attention after moving to the U.S., where he became a favorite performer of director Quentin Tarantino in such films as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Roth scored an Oscar® nomination for his supporting role in 1995's Rob Roy and has since acted in such films as the Woody Allen musical Everyone Says I Love You, the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes and this year's The Incredible Hulk. Roth made a critically acclaimed debut as a director with 1999's The War Zone.

Roth tells TCM host Robert Osborne that he originally saw his first programming pick, David Lean's Hobson's Choice (1954), as a child and was struck by the performances of Charles Laughton and John Mills. Roth considers Brief Encounter (1945) a perfect film – romantic, sad and directed by Lean in masterful style. He finds Gregory Peck to be at his best playing romantic comedy opposite bright new star Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (1953); and says that his final pick, the BBC-TV film Cathy Come Home (1966), changed the face of British cinema and the plight of the homeless in England.

by Roger Fristoe