111-699: Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman ; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer , for whom he directed 14 films, and for his science fiction films . He enjoyed a long career in the film industry from the early 1930s until the early 1980s. Guest was born to John Simon Grossman and Julia Ann Gladys Emanuel in Sutherland Avenue in Maida Vale , London. He later changed his name to Val Guest (officially in 1939). His father
222-540: A BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. Guest made Jigsaw (1962) and 80,000 Suspects (1963). The Beauty Jungle (1964) was an exposé on beauty competitions. Where the Spies Are (1965) was a spy film for MGM starring David Niven . Guest was one of five credited directors to work on the spoof James Bond film Casino Royale (1967), a critically mauled picture in its day. Producer Charles K. Feldman asked Guest if he would direct linking material to make what
333-466: A James Bond -type spy spoof co-starring Robert Morley ; Modesty Blaise (1966), a campy spy send-up playing archvillain Gabriel opposite Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp and directed by Joseph Losey; The Fixer (1968), based on Bernard Malamud 's novel, co-starring Alan Bates ; Sebastian (1968), as Sebastian, a mathematician working on code decryption, who falls in love with Susannah York ,
444-455: A court-martial , reluctantly defending deserter Tom Courtenay . He won a second BAFTA for his role as a television broadcaster-writer Robert Gold in Darling (1965), directed by John Schlesinger . Bogarde, Losey and Pinter reunited for Accident (1967), which recounted the travails of Stephen, a bored Oxford University professor. Our Mother's House (1967) is an off-beat film noir and
555-409: A 1955 adaptation of Nigel Kneale 's BBC Television science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment , directed by Val Guest . As a consequence of the contract with Robert Lippert, American actor Brian Donlevy was imported for the lead role and the title was changed to The Quatermass Xperiment to cash in on the new X certificate for horror films. The film was unexpectedly popular, and led to
666-427: A 1986 Yorkshire Television interview with Russell Harty , Bogarde recalled going on painting trips, sometimes to see the villages which he had selected as targets: I found what I had thought in the rubble were a whole row of footballs , and they weren't footballs ... they were children's heads ... A whole school of kids, a convent , had been pulled out of school, and lined up in this little narrow alleyway between
777-544: A comedy, Carry On Admiral (1957). Quatermass had been a big hit and Hammer asked Guest to direct the first sequel, Quatermass 2 (1957). They also used him to do The Abominable Snowman (1957), from a Kneale TV play, and a POW movie, The Camp on Blood Island (1958). Guest made a comedy Up the Creek which led to a sequel Further Up the Creek (1958). Hammer asked him back to do another war movie, Yesterday's Enemy (1959) with Stanley Baker . Then he made
888-486: A controversial performance as Lieutenant General Frederick 'Boy' Browning . Bogarde claimed he had known General Browning from his time on Field Marshal Montgomery's staff during the war, and took issue with the largely negative portrayal of the general whom he played in A Bridge Too Far . Browning's widow, author Dame Daphne du Maurier , ferociously attacked his characterisation and "the resultant establishment fallout, much of it homophobic , wrongly convinced [Bogarde] that
999-549: A cottage on the Bendrose Estate in Little Chalfont , Buckinghamshire , the family home of his business manager and partner, Anthony 'Tote' Forwood. Bogarde subsequently lived in the area for some 40 years. After an unsuccessful attempt to gain planning permission to convert the estate into a housing development, Bogarde bought the adjoining Beel House and Park from William Lowndes for £4,000. After tearing down
1110-527: A decadent valet, in The Servant (1963), with a script by Harold Pinter , and which garnered Bogarde a BAFTA Award. That year also saw the release of The Mind Benders , in which he played a professor conducting sensory deprivation experiments at Oxford University (and which anticipates Altered States (1980)). The following year saw another collaboration with Losey in the antiwar film King and Country , in which Bogarde played an army officer at
1221-533: A decrypter in the all-female decoding office he heads for British Intelligence , also co-starring Sir John Gielgud and Lilli Palmer , co-produced by Michael Powell; Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), co-starring Sir John Gielgud and Sir Laurence Olivier and directed by Richard Attenborough ; Justine (1969), directed by George Cukor; Le Serpent (1973), co-starring Henry Fonda and Yul Brynner ; A Bridge Too Far (1977), also starring Sean Connery , and again directed by Richard Attenborough, saw Bogarde give
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#17327879424121332-484: A few early sound film roles, before he left acting and began a writing career. For a time, around 1934, he was the London correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter (when the publication began a UK edition), before beginning work on film screenplays for Gainsborough Pictures . This came about because the director Marcel Varnel had been incensed by comments Guest had made in his regular column, "Rambling Around", about
1443-470: A film about doctors and that Bogarde, who up to then had played character roles, had sex appeal and could play light comedy. They were allocated a modest budget and were allowed to use only available Rank contract artists. The film was the first of the Doctor film series based on the books by Richard Gordon . In The Sleeping Tiger (1954), Bogarde played a neurotic criminal with co-star Alexis Smith . It
1554-492: A film based on the present script and a revised script should be sent us for our comments, in which the overall unpleasantness should be mitigated. Regardless of the BBFC's stern warnings, Hinds supervised the shooting of an unchanged script. The film was directed by Terence Fisher, with a look that belied its modest budget. British TV star Peter Cushing portrayed Baron Victor Frankenstein , and supporting actor Christopher Lee
1665-484: A first volume A Postillion Struck by Lightning (an allusion to the phrase My postillion has been struck by lightning ), he wrote a series of 15 best-selling books—nine volumes of memoirs and six novels, as well as essays, reviews, poetry and collected journalism. As a writer, Bogarde displayed a witty, elegant, highly literate and thoughtful style. While under contract with the Rank Organisation, Bogarde
1776-584: A fully-fledged director in the early 1940s (he had been responsible for some second-unit work previously). His first film was an Arthur Askey short, The Nose Has It (1942), warning of the dangers of spreading infection. Guest's debut feature was Miss London Ltd. (1943), again with Askey; Guest had worked on the scripts of earlier Askey films. Guest's second feature as director also starred Askey, Bees in Paradise (1944). He followed this with two films starring Vic Oliver and Margaret Lockwood , Give Us
1887-427: A half-hour pilot titled Tales of Frankenstein (1958) that was intended to premiere on American television; it was never picked up, but is now available on DVD. Anton Diffring took over Cushing's role of Baron Frankenstein. Eight sequels to Dracula were released between 1960 and 1974: Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde ; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999)
1998-537: A medical student in Doctor in the House (1954), a film that made him one of the most popular British stars of the 1950s. The film co-starred Kenneth More and Donald Sinden , with James Robertson Justice as their crabby mentor. The production was initiated by Betty Box, who had picked up a copy of the book at Crewe during a long rail journey and had seen its possibility as a film. Box and Ralph Thomas had difficulties convincing Rank executives that people would go to
2109-416: A one-year lease and began its 1951 production schedule with Cloudburst . The house, virtually derelict, required substantial work, but it did not have the construction restrictions that had prevented Hammer from customising previous homes. A decision was made to remodel Down Place into a substantial, custom-fitted studio complex that became known as Bray Studios . The expansive grounds were used for much of
2220-659: A provincial repertory group". His first on-screen appearance was as an uncredited extra in the George Formby comedy, Come On George! (1939). During the war, Derek "Pip" Bogaerde served in the British Army , initially with the Royal Corps of Signals . He was then commissioned at the age of 22 into the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) on 2 April 1943 with the rank of second lieutenant . He served in both
2331-522: A revived Hammer Film Productions set to work on Death in High Heels , The Dark Road , and Crime Reporter . Not able to afford top stars, Hammer acquired the film rights to BBC radio series such as The Adventures of PC 49 and Dick Barton: Special Agent (an adaptation of the successful Dick Barton radio show). All were filmed at Marylebone Studios during 1947. During the production of Dick Barton Strikes Back (1948), it became apparent that
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#17327879424122442-417: A script for an adaptation of the novel Frankenstein . Although interested in the script, a.a.p. were not prepared to back a film made by Rosenberg and Subotsky, who had just one film to their credit. Eliot Hyman however, sent the script to his contact at Hammer. Rosenberg would often claim he 'produced' The Curse of Frankenstein , an exaggeration repeated in his obituary. Although the novel by Mary Shelley
2553-546: A set design by Bernard Robinson that was radically different from the Universal adaptation; it was so radical, in fact, that Hammer executives considered paying him off and finding another designer. Dracula was an enormous success, breaking box-office records in the U.K., the U.S. (where it was released as Horror of Dracula ), Canada, and across the world. On 20 August 1958, the Daily Cinema reported: "Because of
2664-505: A younger sister, Elizabeth (born 1924), and a brother, Gareth Ulric Van Den Bogaerde, an advertising film producer, born in July 1933 in Hendon . Conditions in the family home in north London became cramped, so Bogarde was moved to Glasgow to stay with relatives of his mother. He stayed there for more than three years, returning at the end of 1937. He attended University College School and
2775-537: Is DAY or NIGHT specified in a number of cases. The number of set-ups scripted is quite out of proportion to the length of the screenplay, and we suggest that your rewrites are done in master scene form. Further revisions were made to the script, and a working title of Frankenstein and the Monster was chosen. Plans were made to shoot the film in Eastmancolor ;– a decision which caused worry at
2886-769: Is keeping on and on in the same vein that makes this script so outrageous. They must take it away and prune. Before they take it away, however, I think the President [of the BBFC] should read it. I have a stronger stomach than the average (for viewing purposes) and perhaps I ought to be reacting more strongly. The scores for many Hammer horror films, including The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula , were composed by James Bernard . Other Hammer musical personnel included Malcolm Williamson , John Hollingsworth , and Harry Robertson . Production designer Bernard Robinson and cinematographer Jack Asher were instrumental in creating
2997-507: Is still alive but no one has invested in it for a long time." Since then, Hammer has produced several films, including Beyond the Rave (2008), Let Me In (2010), The Resident (2011), The Woman in Black (2012), The Quiet Ones (2014), and The Lodge (2019). In November 1934, William Hinds , a comedian and businessman, registered his film company, Hammer Productions Ltd. It
3108-668: The "B.8" airfield at Sommervieu , near Bayeux . As an air photographic interpreter with the rank of captain , Bogarde was later attached to the Second Army , where he selected ground targets in France, Holland and Germany for the Second Tactical Air Force and RAF Bomber Command . Villages on key routes were heavily bombed to prevent the Wehrmacht 's armour from reaching the invasion lodgement areas. In
3219-591: The BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role , for The Servant (1963) and Darling (1965). His other notable film roles included Victim (1961), Accident (1967), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971), The Night Porter (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Despair (1978). He was appointed a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1990 and a Knight Bachelor in 1992. Bogarde
3330-523: The Doctor film series, with later Bond girl Shirley Eaton ; the Powell and Pressburger production Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) co-starring Marius Goring as German General Kreipe , kidnapped on Crete by Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor (Bogarde) and W. Stanley Moss (David Oxley), and a fellow band of Cretan resistance fighters based on W. Stanley Moss ' real-life account ( Ill Met by Moonlight ) of
3441-531: The European and Pacific theatres , principally as an intelligence officer. Bogarde served as an intelligence officer with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery 's 21st Army Group as it liberated Europe. Taylor Downing's book, Spies in the Sky , tells of Bogarde's work in photo-reconnaissance in the aftermath of D-Day , moving through Normandy with Royal Canadian Air Force units. By July 1944, they were located at
Val Guest - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-590: The Voluntary Euthanasia Society : My views were formulated as a 24-year-old officer in Normandy ;... On one occasion, the jeep ahead hit a mine ... Next thing I knew, there was this chap in the long grass beside me. A gurgling voice said, "Help. Kill me." With shaking hands I reached for my small pouch to load my revolver ... I had to look for my bullets – by which time somebody else had already taken care of him. I heard
3663-590: The 1960s and 1970s Bogarde played opposite many renowned stars. The Angel Wore Red (1960) saw Bogarde playing an unfrocked priest who falls in love with cabaret entertainer Ava Gardner during the Spanish Civil War . The same year, in Song Without End he portrayed Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt , a film initially directed by Charles Vidor (who died during shooting) and completed by Bogarde's friend George Cukor , which
3774-487: The Association of Cinematograph Technicians blocked this proposal, and the company purchased the freehold of Down Place instead. The house was renamed Bray Studios after the nearby village of Bray , and it remained Hammer's principal base until 1966. In 1953, the first of Hammer's science fiction films, Four Sided Triangle and Spaceways , were released. Hammer's first significant experiment with horror came in
3885-542: The BBFC. Not only did the script contain horror and graphic violence, but it would be portrayed in vivid colour. The project was handed to Tony Hinds, who was less impressed with the script than Michael Carreras, and whose vision for the film was a simple black-and-white 'quickie' made in three weeks. Concerned that Subotsky and Rosenberg's script had too many similarities to the Universal films, Hinds commissioned Jimmy Sangster to rewrite it as The Curse of Frankenstein . Sangster's treatment impressed Hammer enough to rescue
3996-581: The British entry at the Venice Film Festival , directed by Jack Clayton , in which Bogarde plays a ne'er-do-well father who descends upon "his" seven children on the death of their mother. In his first collaboration with Luchino Visconti in La Caduta degli dei ( The Damned , 1969), Bogarde played German industrialist Frederick Bruckmann alongside Ingrid Thulin . Two years later Visconti
4107-445: The British film industry forced Hammer into bankruptcy , and the company went into liquidation in 1937. Exclusive survived and on 20 July 1937 purchased the leasehold on 113-117 Wardour Street and continued to distribute films made by other companies. James Carreras , Enrique's son, joined Exclusive in 1938, closely followed by William Hinds' son, Anthony. At the outbreak of World War II, James Carreras and Anthony Hinds left to join
4218-629: The Door (1949), What the Butler Saw (1950), The Lady Craved Excitement (1950). In 1950, Hammer moved again to Gilston Park, a country club in Harlow, Essex, which hosted The Black Widow , The Rossiter Case , To Have and to Hold and The Dark Light (all 1950). In 1951, Hammer began shooting at their most fondly-remembered base, Down Place, on the banks of the Thames. The company signed
4329-470: The Exclusive offices in 113-117 Wardour Street, and the building was rechristened "Hammer House". In August 1949, complaints from locals about noise during night filming forced Hammer to leave Dial Close and move into another mansion, Oakley Court , also on the banks of the Thames between Windsor and Maidenhead. Five films were produced there: Man in Black (1949), Room to Let (1949), Someone at
4440-515: The Frankenstein story, it re-tells the Baron's history in flashbacks that bear no resemblance to the two earlier Hammer Frankenstein films and it portrays the Baron with a very different personality, resulting in a film which permanently breaks the chronological continuity of the series. Each subsequent movie in the series contains elements that do not relate to (or flatly contradict) the events of
4551-645: The Lyons (1955) with Daniels and Lyon, a spin off of their radio show. It was popular enough for Guest to make a sequel The Lyons in Paris (1955). He did a thriller Break in the Circle (1954) and Dance, Little Lady (1954). Despite his career in comedy films, he was offered the chance to direct Hammer's first Quatermass film, adapted from the BBC television serial by Nigel Kneale . Uncertain about taking it on, (he
Val Guest - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-948: The Moon (1944) and I'll Be Your Sweetheart (1945); the latter was the first and only musical from Gainsborough Studios. Guest directed two films based on the Just William stories, Just William's Luck (1947) and William Comes to Town (1948). He wrote and directed a thriller, Murder at the Windmill (1949). Guest then made the comedy Miss Pilgrim's Progress (1949) with Yolande Donlan , who became his wife in 1954. The two reunited on The Body Said No! (1950); Mister Drake's Duck (1951), with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. ; Penny Princess (1952) with Dirk Bogarde . Guest began an association with Hammer films when he directed The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954). After The Runaway Bus (1955) with Frankie Howerd he made Life with
4773-459: The Rank Organisation in the early 1960s, Bogarde abandoned his heart-throb image and "chose roles that challenged received morality and that pushed the scope of cinema". He starred in the film Victim (1961), playing a London barrister who fights the blackmailers of a young man with whom he has had a deeply emotional relationship. The young man commits suicide after being arrested for embezzlement, rather than ruin his beloved's career. In exposing
4884-685: The Second World War abduction ; A Tale of Two Cities (1958), a faithful retelling of Charles Dickens ' classic; as a flight lieutenant in the Far East , who falls in love with a beautiful Japanese teacher Yoko Tani in The Wind Cannot Read (1958); The Doctor's Dilemma (1959), based on a play by George Bernard Shaw and co-starring Leslie Caron and Robert Morley ; and Libel (1959), playing three separate roles and co-starring Olivia de Havilland . After leaving
4995-510: The U.S.) led to two sequels: There were also two Quatermass -style films: Six sequels to The Curse of Frankenstein were released between 1958 and 1974: All starred Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein, except The Horror of Frankenstein (which was not a sequel, but a tongue-in-cheek remake of The Curse of Frankenstein ), in which Ralph Bates took the title role. The Evil of Frankenstein stars Cushing but due to an agreement made with Universal to more closely pastiche their version of
5106-516: The age of 94. Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein , Count Dracula , and the Mummy , which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for
5217-579: The agreement in place, Hammer's executives had their pick of Universal International's horror icons and chose to remake The Invisible Man , The Phantom of the Opera , and The Mummy's Hand . All were to be filmed in colour at Bray Studios, by the same team responsible for The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula . The Mummy (the title used for the remake of The Mummy's Hand , which also incorporated significant story elements from that film's first two sequels, The Mummy's Tomb and The Mummy's Ghost )
5328-412: The armed forces and Exclusive continued to operate in a limited capacity. In 1946, James Carreras rejoined the company after demobilisation . He resurrected Hammer as the film production arm of Exclusive with a view to supplying ' quota-quickies ', cheaply made domestic films designed to fill gaps in cinema schedules and support more expensive features. He convinced Anthony Hinds to rejoin the company, and
5439-520: The buildings to save them from the bombing, and the whole thing had come in on top of them. Bogarde said he was one of the first Allied officers to reach the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany on 20 April 1945, an experience that had the most profound effect on him and about which he had difficulty speaking for many years afterward. The gates were opened, and then I realised that I
5550-508: The celebrated credits sequence – blood being spattered from off-screen over the Count's coffin". The film magazine Empire ranked Lee's portrayal as Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. 1960 saw the release of the first in a long line of sequels, The Brides of Dracula , with Cushing returning to the role of Van Helsing, though Lee did not play Dracula again until Dracula: Prince of Darkness , released in 1966. With
5661-590: The company could save money by shooting in country houses instead of studios. For the next production, Dr Morelle – The Case of the Missing Heiress (another radio adaptation), Hammer rented Dial Close, a 23 bedroom mansion beside the River Thames , at Cookham Dean , Maidenhead . On 12 February 1949, Exclusive registered "Hammer Film Productions" as a company with Enrique and James Carreras, and William and Tony Hinds as directors. Hammer moved into
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#17327879424125772-634: The couple divorced after Guest fell in love with American actress Yolande Donlan who eventually became his wife in 1954; Donlan appeared in eight of his films during the 1950s. After Guest retired in 1985, the couple lived together in retirement in California. In 2004, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California , Walk of Stars was dedicated to Guest and Donlan. Guest died in a hospice in Palm Desert, California from prostate cancer at
5883-519: The course of five years reached the rank of major and was awarded seven medals. His poetry has been published in war anthologies, and a grey ink brush drawing, "Tents in Orchard. 1944", is in the collection of the British Museum . Having come to prominence in films including The Blue Lamp in the early 1950s, Bogarde starred in the successful Doctor film series (1954–1963). He twice won
5994-480: The decade. His credits included All In (1936) for Varnel; Public Nuisance No. 1 (1936); A Star Fell from Heaven (1936); O-Kay for Sound (1937) for Varnel with The Crazy Gang ; Alf's Button Afloat (1938) with Flanagan and Allen. He also wrote the Will Hay comedies Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) and Ask a Policeman (1939). He wrote Hi Gang! (1941) for Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels . Guest became
6105-460: The director's latest film. Challenged to write a screenplay by Varnel, Guest co-wrote his first script, which became No Monkey Business (1935) directed by Varnel. This was to be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between the two men. Guest was placed under contract as a staff writer at Gainsborough's Islington Studios in Poole Street. Guest wrote screenplays for the rest of
6216-501: The fantastic business done world-wide by Hammer's Technicolor version of Dracula , Universal-International, its distributors, have made over to Jimmy Carreras' organisation, the remake rights to their entire library of classic films." Establishing the fanged vampire in popular culture , Lee also introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character. The academic Christopher Frayling writes, “ Dracula introduced fangs, red contact lenses, décolletage, ready-prepared wooden stakes and – in
6327-433: The film from the 'quickie' treadmill and to produce it as a colour film. Sangster submitted his script to the BBFC for examination. Audrey Field reported on 10 October 1956: We are concerned about the flavour of this script, which, in its preoccupation with horror and gruesome detail, goes far beyond what we are accustomed to allow even for the 'X' category. I am afraid we can give no assurance that we should be able to pass
6438-515: The film version of Expresso Bongo (1959) with Donlan, giving an early role to Cliff Richard . Guest returned to comedy with Life Is a Circus (1960) starring Bud Flanagan . He made another for Hammer with Stanley Baker, a tough crime film, Hell Is a City (1960). He followed this with a thriller for Hammer, The Full Treatment (1960). Guest's next film, The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), won Guest and Wolf Mankowitz
6549-600: The first time. Hammer also produced science fiction , thrillers , film noir and comedies , as well as, in later years, television series . During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was, in part, due to its distribution partnerships with American companies United Artists , Warner Bros. , Universal Pictures , Columbia Pictures , Paramount Pictures , 20th Century Studios , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , American International Pictures and Seven Arts Productions . During
6660-464: The former Allan Glen's High School of Science in Glasgow, a time he described in his autobiography as an unhappy one. Having secured a scholarship at Chelsea College of Art, Bogarde completed his two year course, and landed "a back-stage job as tea-boy at seven shillings and sixpence per week". A chance to act as a stand-in convinced Bogarde that "he needed some additional basic training, and he joined
6771-459: The gravest misgivings about treatment. [...] The curse of this thing is the Technicolor blood: why need vampires be messier eaters than anyone else? Certainly strong cautions will be necessary on shots of blood. And of course, some of the stake-work is prohibitive." Despite the success of The Curse of Frankenstein , the financing of Dracula proved awkward. Universal was not interested, and
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#17327879424126882-545: The inevitable desire for a sequel in The Revenge of Frankenstein , and an attempt to give the Hammer treatment to another horror icon. Dracula had been a successful film character for Universal in the past, and the copyright situation was more complicated than for Frankenstein. A legal agreement between Hammer and Universal was not completed until 31 March 1958 – after the film had been shot – and
6993-551: The issue of who exactly funded Dracula is still not entirely clear (see Barnett, 'Hammering out a Deal: The Contractual and Commercial Contexts of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958)’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , published online 19 November 2013). With a final budget of £81,412, Dracula began principal photography on 11 November 1957. Peter Cushing again had top-billing, this time as Doctor Van Helsing , whilst Christopher Lee starred as Count Dracula , with direction by Terence Fisher and
7104-513: The late 1960s and 1970s, the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer formula with varying degrees of success. The company eventually ceased production in the mid-1980s. In 2000, the studio was bought by a consortium including advertising executive and art collector Charles Saatchi and publishing millionaires Neil Mendoza and William Sieghart . The company announced plans to begin making films again, but none
7215-652: The late 1980s, he wrote that he would disembark from a lift rather than ride with a German of his generation. Nevertheless, three of his more memorable film roles were as Germans, one of them as a former SS officer in The Night Porter (1974). Bogarde was most vocal towards the end of his life on voluntary euthanasia , of which he became a staunch proponent after witnessing the protracted death of his lifelong partner and manager Anthony Forwood (the former husband of actress Glynis Johns ) in 1988. He gave an interview to John Hofsess, London executive director of
7326-560: The later location shooting in Hammer's films and are a key to the 'Hammer look'. Also in 1951, Hammer and Exclusive signed a four-year production and distribution contract with Robert Lippert , an American film producer. The contract meant that Lippert Pictures and Exclusive effectively exchanged products for distribution on their respective sides of the Atlantic – beginning in 1951 with The Last Page and ending with 1955's Women Without Men (a.k.a. Prison Story ). It
7437-697: The lavish look of the early Hammer films, usually on a very restricted budget. Hammer's horror films featured many actors who appeared repeatedly in a number of movies, forming an informal "Hammer repertory company". As production began on Quatermass 2 , Hammer started to look for another U.S. partner willing to invest in and handle the American promotion of new product. They eventually entered talks with Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) and head, Eliot Hyman . During this period, two young American filmmakers, Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky , who later established Hammer's rival Amicus , submitted to a.a.p.
7548-570: The lead in the film adaptation of John Osborne's ground-breaking stage play, Look Back in Anger in 1959. In 1961, Bogarde was offered the chance to play Hamlet at the recently founded Chichester Festival Theatre by artistic director Sir Laurence Olivier but had to decline owing to film commitments. Bogarde later said that he regretted declining Olivier's offer and with it the chance to "really learn my craft". After his acting career had given him some success, Bogarde moved from London and rented
7659-410: The mid-2010's. Bogarde and Forwood later moved to Provence , France, then Italy, before returning to France. They moved back to London shortly before Forwood's death in 1988. The critical and commercial failure of Song Without End affected his Hollywood leading man hopes. He struggled with the trauma of his active service, compounded by rapid fame, recounting, "First there was the war, and then
7770-542: The movie that went before, whilst the characteristics of Cushing's Baron vary wildly from film to film, resulting in a series that does not progress as a self-contained narrative cycle. David Prowse was the only actor to star as the creature twice in the Hammer Frankenstein series; he reprised the role from The Horror of Frankenstein in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell . Hammer also produced
7881-445: The newly ennobled Sir Richard [Attenborough] had deliberately contrived to scupper his own chance of a knighthood." While several of his fellow actors were veterans, Bogarde was the only cast member to have served at the battles being depicted in the film, having entered Brussels the day after its liberation, and worked on the planning of Operation Market Garden. In 1977, Bogarde embarked on his second career as an author. Starting with
7992-476: The peace to cope with, and then suddenly I was a film star . It happened all too soon." Bogarde had a minor stroke in November 1987 while Forwood was dying of liver cancer and Parkinson's disease . In September 1996, he underwent angioplasty to unblock arteries leading to his heart and had a massive stroke following the operation. He was paralysed on one side of his body, which affected his speech. After
8103-519: The popular 1957 sequel Quatermass 2 – again adapted from one of Kneale's television scripts, this time by Kneale and with a budget double that of the original: £92,000. In the meantime, Hammer produced another Quatermass -style horror film, X the Unknown , originally intended as part of the series until Kneale denied them permission to use his characters (the writer is known to have disliked Donlevy's performance as Quatermass). At
8214-758: The producer, because he had not been paid for his work, and the film was quickly pulled from screenings. Around the same time, Guest wrote and directed When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) for Hammer. Guest directed the softcore sex comedy Au Pair Girls (1972), followed by Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974), the first of the Confessions series of sex comedies. He was also working in television, directing episodes of series including The Persuaders! (1971–72), The Adventurer (1972–73) and Space: 1999 (1976–77). He continued to direct films, including Killer Force (1976). Guest's final feature film work
8325-770: The rescue of Jean Simmons during the World's Fair in Paris. He also had roles as an accidental murderer in Hunted (or The Stranger in Between , 1952), a young wing commander in Bomber Command in Appointment in London (1953), and in Desperate Moment (1953), a wrongly imprisoned man who regains hope of clearing his name when he learns his sweetheart, Mai Zetterling , is still alive. Bogarde featured as
8436-468: The ring of extortionists, Bogarde's character risks his reputation and marriage to see that justice is done. Victim was the first British film to portray the humiliation to which gay people were exposed via discriminatory law and as a victimised minority; it is said to have had some effect upon the later Sexual Offences Act 1967 ending, to some extent, the illegal status of male homosexual activity. He again teamed up with Joseph Losey to play Hugo Barrett,
8547-579: The search for money eventually brought Hammer back to a.a.p.'s Eliot Hyman, through another of his companies, Seven Arts (which later merged with Warner Bros. , now the successor-in-interest to a.a.p. ). Although an agreement was drawn up, it is alleged that the deal was never realised and funding for Dracula eventually came from the National Film Finance Council ( £ 33,000) and the rest from Universal in return for worldwide distribution rights. However, recent research suggests that
8658-431: The servants wing, Bogarde and Forwood had the main house redeveloped and refurbished "to bring more light" into the original 1700s core. They lived there until 1960, after the development of Dr Challoner’s High School just 200 yards from Beel House. The couple subsequently moved to Drummer’s Yard near Beaconsfield . Beel House was later owned by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne , and Robert Kilroy Silk who sold it for £6.5M in
8769-584: The shot. I still remember that gurgling sound. A voice pleading for death. Bogarde's London West End theatre -acting debut was in 1939, with the stage name "Derek Bogaerde", in J. B. Priestley 's play Cornelius . In 1947 he appeared at the Fortune Theatre in Michael Clayton Hutton 's Power Without Glory . After the war, he started pursuing film roles using the name "Dirk Bogarde". One of Bogarde's earliest starring roles in cinema
8880-534: The story of Henry Henry, an unemployed London street musician, and the title was a "playful tribute" to Alexander Korda 's The Private Life of Henry VIII which was Britain's first Academy Award for Best Picture nominee in 1934. During this time Hinds met Spanish émigré Enrique Carreras, a former cinema owner, and on 10 May 1935 they formed the film distribution company Exclusive Films, operating from an office at 60-66 National House, Wardour Street . Hammer produced four films distributed by Exclusive: A slump in
8991-523: The stroke, he used a wheelchair. He then completed the final volume of his autobiography , which covered the effects of the stroke, and published an edition of his collected journalism , mainly from The Daily Telegraph . He spent some time with his friend Lauren Bacall the day before he died at his home in London from a heart attack on 8 May 1999, aged 78. His ashes were scattered at his former estate Le Pigeonnier in Grasse , southern France . Bogarde
9102-606: The time, Hammer voluntarily submitted scripts to the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) for comment before production. Regarding the script of X the Unknown , one reader/examiner (Audrey Field) commented on 24 November: Well, no one can say the customers won't have had their money's worth by now. In fact, someone will almost certainly have been sick. We must have a great deal more restraint, and much more done by onlookers' reactions instead of by shots of 'pulsating obscenity', hideous scars, hideous sightless faces, etc, etc. It
9213-408: The winding-down of the parent film distribution company Exclusive, leaving Hammer to concentrate on filmmaking. Work continued on the script for Dracula , and the second draft was submitted to the BBFC. Audrey Field commented on 8 October 1957: "The uncouth, uneducated, disgusting and vulgar style of Mr Jimmy Sangster cannot quite obscure the remnants of a good horror story, though they do give one
9324-448: Was 80 pages long. Meanwhile, the financial arrangement between a.a.p. and Hammer had broken down when money promised by a.a.p. had not arrived. Hammer began looking for alternatives, and with the success of The Curse of Frankenstein signed with Columbia Pictures to distribute The Revenge of Frankenstein and two films from the defaulted a.a.p. deal, The Camp on Blood Island and The Snorkel . Hammer's financial success also meant
9435-672: Was Bogarde's first film for American expatriate director Joseph Losey . He did his second Doctor film, Doctor at Sea (1955), co-starring Brigitte Bardot in one of her first film roles; played a returning colonial who fights the Mau-Mau with Virginia McKenna and Donald Sinden in Simba (1955); Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), as a man who marries women for money and then murders them; The Spanish Gardener (1956), with Michael Hordern , Jon Whiteley and Cyril Cusack ; Doctor at Large (1957), again with Donald Sinden, another entry in
9546-542: Was Lippert's insistence on an American star in the Hammer films he was to distribute that led to the prevalence of American leads in many of the company's productions during the 1950s. It was for The Last Page that Hammer made a significant appointment when they hired film director Terence Fisher , who played a critical role in the forthcoming horror cycle. Towards the end of 1951, the one-year lease on Down Place expired, and with its growing success Hammer looked towards more conventional studio-based productions. A dispute with
9657-547: Was a jute broker, and the family spent some of Guest's childhood in India before returning to England. His parents divorced when he was young, but this information was kept from him. Instead he was told that his mother had died. He was educated at Seaford College in Sussex, but left in 1927 and worked for a time as a bookkeeper. Guest's initial career was as an actor, appearing in productions in London theatres. He also appeared in
9768-522: Was among his greatest screen disappointments. (Rattigan reworked the script as a play, Ross , which opened to great success in 1960, initially with Alec Guinness playing Lawrence.) Bogarde was also reportedly considered for the title role in MGM 's Doctor Zhivago (1965). Earlier, he had declined Louis Jourdan 's role as Gaston in MGM's Gigi (1958). His contract with Rank had precluded him from accepting
9879-611: Was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as Doctor in the House (1954) for the Rank Organisation , he later acted in art house films, evolving from "heartthrob to icon of edginess". In a second career, he wrote seven best-selling volumes of memoirs, six novels, and a volume of collected journalism , mainly from articles in The Daily Telegraph . Bogarde saw active military duty during World War Two , and over
9990-763: Was back at the helm when Bogarde portrayed Gustav von Aschenbach in Morte a Venezia ( Death in Venice ). In 1974, the controversial Il Portiere di notte ( The Night Porter ) saw Bogarde cast as an ex-Nazi, Max Aldorfer, co-starring Charlotte Rampling , and directed by Liliana Cavani . He played Claude, the lawyer son of a dying, drunken writer ( John Gielgud ) in the well-received, multidimensional French film Providence (1977), directed by Alain Resnais , and industrialist Hermann Hermann, who descends into madness in Despair (1978) directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder . "It
10101-583: Was bright red, and the camera lingered on it. The film was an enormous success, not only in Great Britain, but also in the U.S., where it inspired numerous imitations from, amongst others, Roger Corman and American International Pictures (with their series largely based on Edgar Allan Poe – the so-called "Poe Cycle"). It found success on the European continent also, where Italian directors and audiences were particularly receptive. The huge box office success of The Curse of Frankenstein led to
10212-425: Was cast as the imposingly tall, brutish Creature . With a budget of £65,000 and a cast and crew that would become the backbone of later films, Hammer's first Gothic horror went into production. The use of colour encouraged a previously unseen level of gore. Until The Curse of Frankenstein , horror films had not shown blood in a graphic way, or when they did, it was concealed by monochrome photography. In this film, it
10323-614: Was directed by Terence Fisher from a screenplay from Jimmy Sangster. The Mummy went into general release on 23 October 1959 and broke the box-office records set by Dracula the previous year, both in Great Britain and the U.S. when it was released there in December. Hammer consolidated their success by turning their most successful films into series. This was a practice they had making Dick Barton movies which they continued to their horror movies and other genres. The success of The Quatermass Xperiment (1955; The Creeping Unknown in
10434-823: Was honoured with the first BAFTA Tribute Award for an outstanding contribution to cinema. Bogarde was created a Knight Bachelor in the United Kingdom in 1992, awarded the Commandeur de l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1990, an honorary doctorate of literature on 4 July 1985 by St Andrews University in Scotland, and an honorary doctorate of letters in 1993 by the University of Sussex in England. In 1984, Bogarde served as president of
10545-514: Was housed in a three-room office suite at Imperial House, Regent Street , London. The company name came from Hinds' stage name, Will Hammer, which he had taken from the area of London in which he lived, Hammersmith . Work began almost immediately on the first film, a now lost comedy, The Public Life of Henry the Ninth at the MGM/ATP studios. Filming concluded on 2 January 1935. The film tells
10656-592: Was in the 1949 film Once a Jolly Swagman , where he played a daring speedway ace, riding for the Cobras. This was filmed at New Cross Speedway, in South East London, during one of the postwar years in which speedway was the biggest spectator sport in the UK. Bogarde was contracted to the Rank Organisation under the wing of the prolific independent film producer Betty Box , who produced most of his early films and
10767-646: Was instrumental in creating his matinée idol image. His Rank contract began following his appearance in Esther Waters (1948), his first credited role, replacing Stewart Granger . Another early role of his was in The Blue Lamp (1950), playing a hoodlum who shoots and kills a police constable ( Jack Warner ), whilst in So Long at the Fair (1950), a film noir , he played a handsome artist who comes to
10878-401: Was left uncompleted, after the departure of Peter Sellers from the project, into a coherent narrative. Guest opted for an 'Additional Sequences' credit after he saw the completed film. He made a thriller Assignment K (1968) then a musical Toomorrow (1970) which, according to Christopher Hawtree, it is "a staggeringly dreadful movie". Guest issued an injunction against Harry Saltzman ,
10989-423: Was long since in the public domain , Anthony Hinds was unsure about the story, as Subotsky's script adhered closely to the plot of the 1939 Universal film Son of Frankenstein , featuring a second-generation Baron Frankenstein emulating his father, the original monster-maker. This put the project at risk of a copyright infringement lawsuit by Universal. In addition a great deal of polishing and additional material
11100-406: Was looking at Dante 's Inferno . And a girl came up who spoke English, because she recognised one of the badges, and she ... her breasts were like, sort of, empty purses, she had no top on, and a pair of man's pyjamas, you know, the prison pyjamas, and no hair ... and all around us there were mountains of dead people, I mean mountains of them, and they were slushy, and they were slimy. There
11211-453: Was made in 1959, The Phantom of the Opera followed in 1962, and Hammer collaborated with William Castle on a remake of The Old Dark House in 1963. The Invisible Man was never produced. Principal photography for The Mummy began on 23 February 1959 and lasted until 16 April 1959. Once again it starred both Peter Cushing (as John Banning) and Christopher Lee (as Kharis the Mummy), and
11322-414: Was needed, as the short script had an estimated running time of just 55 minutes, far less than the minimum of 90 minutes needed for distribution in the U.K. Accordingly, comments on the script from Hammer's Michael Carreras (who had joined his father James as producer in the early 1950s) were less than complimentary: The script is badly presented. The sets are not marked clearly on the shot headings, neither
11433-666: Was nominated five times as Best Actor by BAFTA , winning twice, for The Servant in 1963 and for Darling in 1965. He also received the London Film Critics Circle Lifetime Award in 1991 . He made a total of 63 films between 1939 and 1991. In 1983, he received a special award for service to the cinema at the Cannes Festival . He was awarded the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1987. In 1988, Bogarde
11544-435: Was not a fan of science fiction), he was persuaded to do so by his wife, Yolande Donlan. Guest shot The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) as though it was a television documentary. Its success led to the Hammer company changing its direction. He followed it with a drama They Can't Hang Me (1955) and musical It's a Wonderful World (1956). Republic Pictures hired him to make the thriller The Weapon (1956) and he directed
11655-447: Was produced. In May 2007, the company name was sold to a consortium headed by Dutch media tycoon John de Mol , who announced plans to spend some $ 50 million (£25m) on new horror films. The new organization acquired the Hammer group's film library of 295 pictures. Simon Oakes , who took over as CEO of the new Hammer, said, "Hammer is a great British brand—we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand
11766-441: Was set to play the role of T. E. Lawrence in a proposed film Lawrence written by Terence Rattigan and to be directed by Anthony Asquith . On the eve of production, after a year of preparation by Bogarde, Rattigan and Asquith, the film was scrapped without full explanation—ostensibly for budgetary reasons—to the dismay of all three men. The abrupt scrapping of Lawrence , a role long researched and keenly anticipated by Bogarde,
11877-420: Was some doubt as to whether he really visited Belsen, although, more than a decade after publishing his biography, and following additional research, John Coldstream concluded that "it is now possible to state with some authority that he did at least set foot inside the camp". The horror and revulsion at the cruelty and inhumanity that he said he witnessed left him with a deep-seated hostility towards Germany; in
11988-538: Was the actor's only foray into Hollywood. The campy The Singer Not the Song (1961) starred Bogarde as a Mexican bandit alongside John Mills as a priest. In H.M.S. Defiant (or Damn the Defiant! ) (1962), he played the sadistic Lieutenant Scott-Padget, co-starring Sir Alec Guinness ; I Could Go On Singing (1963), co-starring Judy Garland in her final screen role; Hot Enough for June (or Agent 8¾ ) (1964),
12099-538: Was the best performance I've ever done in my life," he later recounted. "Fassbinder... really screwed the film up. He tore it to pieces with a scissors." This led to Bogarde going on an extended hiatus. "And I thought, 'OK. Give it up'. So I gave it up and I didn't do another film for fourteen years." He returned one last time, as Daddy in Bertrand Tavernier's Daddy Nostalgie , (or These Foolish Things ) (1991), co-starring Jane Birkin as his daughter. In
12210-502: Was the eldest of three children born to Ulric van den Bogaerde (1892–1972) and Margaret Niven (1898–1980). Ulric was born in Perry Barr , Birmingham , of Flemish ancestry, and was art editor of The Times . Margaret Niven, a former actress, was Scottish , from Glasgow . Dirk Bogarde was born in a nursing home at 12 Hemstal Road, West Hampstead , London, and was baptised on 30 October 1921, at St. Mary's Church, Kilburn . He had
12321-686: Was writing and directing The Boys in Blue (1982), a vehicle for the British comedy double act Cannon and Ball . It was a remake of the Will Hay picture Ask a Policeman (1939), which Guest had co-written. In 2001 he published an autobiography, So You Want to be in Pictures . His last professional work was as the director of several episodes of the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense TV series in 1984 and 1985. Originally married to Pat Watson,
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