Grant McLean (film producer)
Encyclopedia
Grant McLean, CM
(April 7, 1921 – December 19, 2002) was a Canadian
film director
and producer
. For most of his professional career he worked with the National Film Board of Canada
(NFB), serving as its acting Commissioner for a period during the 1960s.
McLean was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan
. His father Allan Grant McLean was a grain commissioner and Liberal Party
politician, and his uncle Ross McLean also served as chairman of the NFB.
McLean studied at the University of Toronto
, before joining the NFB in 1941 as a cameraman. One of the notable productions he worked on during World War II
was the documentary Target Berlin for the Canada Carries On
series, which showed the building of the first Lancaster bomber to be made in Canada, with McLean later flying in the plane to capture footage of a bombing raid over Berlin
in Germany
. He became a film director in 1947, with his first production in this capacity being The People Between, a documentary about the Chinese Civil War
. For this film he became the first Western
cameraman to film Mao Zedong
. He later claimed that he had not liked Mao, although he had been friendly with Zhou Enlai
, whose support had been vital in enabling him to travel freely across China
in the making of the film. However, The People Between was banned by the Canadian government
, under pressure from the Government of the United States, due to its balanced portrayal of Communism
. Some of the footage was used in the NFB documentary China in Need, and the film itself received a limited release in Europe.
McLean continued to direct films for the NFB into the 1950s, and two of his documentaries won Canadian Film Award
s; 1954's Farewell Oak Street and 1955's High Tide in Newfoundland. He then became a producer, working on the Perspective series of documentaries. In 1957 he was appointed as Assistant Film Commissioner and Director of Production at the NFB. In this capacity he was responsible, in the early 1960s, for the NFB creating its first regional offices across Canada. In 1961 took the decision to assign four controversial French Canadian
film-makers who had previously been dismissed from Board by Fernand Dansereau, the executive producer of French language
productions, to work together in the NFB's Studio G unit. These film-makers were Claude Fournier
, Michel Brault
, Gilles Carle and Gilles Groulx
.
In March 1966, the Government Film Commissioner and Chairman of the NFB Guy Roberge
resigned from his position. Judy LaMarsh
, the Secretary of State
, appointed McLean as his acting replacement. When LaMarsh sought the advice of NFB founder John Grierson
as to who should succeed Roberge on a full-time basis, he suggested that either McLean or Sydney Newman
were the only viable replacements. However, Marsh instead chose to give the job to Hugo McPherson
, who was appointed in May 1967.
During McLean's brief time in charge of the NFB, the Board's most noted achievement was the production of the innovative multi-screen film In the Labyrinth
for the Expo 67
exhibition in Montreal
. Soon after McPherson's arrival as head of the NFB, however, the new Commissioner announced plans to restructure senior levels of the organisation and replace his two assistants and a wider group; McLean, one of these two assistants, resigned from the NFB.
After leaving the NFB in 1967, McLean established McLean-Wilder Associates, his own distribution company; this was later renamed the Visual Education Centre. In 2002 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada; he died in Toronto
later that year. He was survived by his second wife, Betty and daughter Leonore, from his first marriage to Frances McLean.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(April 7, 1921 – December 19, 2002) was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. For most of his professional career he worked with the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
(NFB), serving as its acting Commissioner for a period during the 1960s.
McLean was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. His father Allan Grant McLean was a grain commissioner and Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
politician, and his uncle Ross McLean also served as chairman of the NFB.
McLean studied at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, before joining the NFB in 1941 as a cameraman. One of the notable productions he worked on during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was the documentary Target Berlin for the Canada Carries On
Canada Carries On
Canada Carries On was a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada, which ran from 1940 to 1959. The series was initially created as morale boosting propaganda films during World War II...
series, which showed the building of the first Lancaster bomber to be made in Canada, with McLean later flying in the plane to capture footage of a bombing raid over Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He became a film director in 1947, with his first production in this capacity being The People Between, a documentary about the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
. For this film he became the first Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
cameraman to film Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
. He later claimed that he had not liked Mao, although he had been friendly with Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
, whose support had been vital in enabling him to travel freely across China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in the making of the film. However, The People Between was banned by the Canadian government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
, under pressure from the Government of the United States, due to its balanced portrayal of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Some of the footage was used in the NFB documentary China in Need, and the film itself received a limited release in Europe.
McLean continued to direct films for the NFB into the 1950s, and two of his documentaries won Canadian Film Award
Canadian Film Award
The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually except in 1974 when Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation that year....
s; 1954's Farewell Oak Street and 1955's High Tide in Newfoundland. He then became a producer, working on the Perspective series of documentaries. In 1957 he was appointed as Assistant Film Commissioner and Director of Production at the NFB. In this capacity he was responsible, in the early 1960s, for the NFB creating its first regional offices across Canada. In 1961 took the decision to assign four controversial French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
film-makers who had previously been dismissed from Board by Fernand Dansereau, the executive producer of French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
productions, to work together in the NFB's Studio G unit. These film-makers were Claude Fournier
Claude Fournier (filmmaker)
Claude Fournier is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer. He is one of the forerunners of the Cinema of Quebec. He is the twin brother of Guy Fournier....
, Michel Brault
Michel Brault
Michel Brault, OQ is a Quebec cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He is a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the National Film Board of Canada in the 1960s...
, Gilles Carle and Gilles Groulx
Gilles Groulx
Gilles Groulx was a Canadian film director. He grew up in a working-class family with 14 children. After studying business in school, he went to work in an office but found the white-collar environment too stultifying...
.
In March 1966, the Government Film Commissioner and Chairman of the NFB Guy Roberge
Guy Roberge
Guy Roberge was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, politician and civil servant. He also served as Canada's Government Film Commissioner during the 1950s and 60s, in which capacity he ran the National Film Board of Canada. He was the first French Canadian to occupy this role.He was born in...
resigned from his position. Judy LaMarsh
Judy LaMarsh
Julia Verlyn LaMarsh, PC, OC, QC was a Canadian politician, lawyer, author and broadcaster. In 1963, she was only the second woman to ever serve as a federal Cabinet Minister...
, the Secretary of State
Secretary of State for Canada
The position of Secretary of State for Canada was a Canadian Cabinet position with a corresponding department. It was established in 1867 as the official channel of communication between the Dominion of Canada and the Imperial government in London...
, appointed McLean as his acting replacement. When LaMarsh sought the advice of NFB founder John Grierson
John Grierson
John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.-Early life:Grierson was born in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland...
as to who should succeed Roberge on a full-time basis, he suggested that either McLean or Sydney Newman
Sydney Newman
Sydney Cecil Newman, OC was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s...
were the only viable replacements. However, Marsh instead chose to give the job to Hugo McPherson
Hugo McPherson
Hugo McPherson is a Canadian professor, who served as Canada's Government Film Commissioner from 1967 until 1970. In this position he was the Chairman of the National Film Board of Canada.McPherson was born in Sioux Lookout, Ontario...
, who was appointed in May 1967.
During McLean's brief time in charge of the NFB, the Board's most noted achievement was the production of the innovative multi-screen film In the Labyrinth
In the Labyrinth
In the Labyrinth was a groundbreaking multi-screen presentation at Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It used 35mm and 70mm film projected simultaneously on multiple screens and was the precursor of today's IMAX format.The film split elements across the five screens and also combined them for a...
for the Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
exhibition in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Soon after McPherson's arrival as head of the NFB, however, the new Commissioner announced plans to restructure senior levels of the organisation and replace his two assistants and a wider group; McLean, one of these two assistants, resigned from the NFB.
After leaving the NFB in 1967, McLean established McLean-Wilder Associates, his own distribution company; this was later renamed the Visual Education Centre. In 2002 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada; he died in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
later that year. He was survived by his second wife, Betty and daughter Leonore, from his first marriage to Frances McLean.