Roy Ward Baker
Encyclopedia
Roy Ward Baker born Roy Horace Baker, was an English film director
, credited as Roy Baker for much of his career. His best known film is A Night to Remember (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959. His later career included many horror films and television
shows.
where his father was a Billingsgate
fish merchant, Baker was educated at a Lycée in Rouen
, France, and at the City of London School
. From 1934 to 1939, he worked for Gainsborough Pictures
, a British film production company based in the Islington
district of London. His first jobs were menial, making tea for crew members, for example, but by 1938 he had risen to the level of as assistant director
on Alfred Hitchcock
's The Lady Vanishes
(1938).
He served in the Army
during World War II
, transferring to the Army Kinematograph Unit in 1943 to make better use of his skills as a production manager and director on documentaries
. One of his superiors at the time was novel
ist Eric Ambler
, who insisted on Baker being given his first big break directing The October Man
, from an Ambler screenplay, in 1947. Ambler also adapted Walter Lord
's A Night to Remember for Baker's 1958 screen version. His next two films, The Weaker Sex (1948) and Paper Orchid
(1949) were popular but overshadowed by the success of Morning Departure
(1950), also featuring John Mills.
Morning Departure drew international attention to Baker's talent and prompted Darryl Zanuck, production head of 20th Century Fox
, to invite him to Hollywood, though his first film for the company - I'll Never Forget You - was made in the UK. During the early 1950s, Baker worked for three years at Fox where he directed Marilyn Monroe
in Don't Bother to Knock
(1952) and Robert Ryan
in the 3-D
film noir
Inferno
(1953). He returned to the UK in 1953 and continued to work on films.
He worked for television during the 1960s. He directed episodes of The Avengers
, The Saint
, The Persuaders!
and The Champions
–all adventure series created with an eye on the American market. The low-budget ethic of television production made him well-suited to his next career move into cheaply produced, but lavish-looking British horror films. He directed, among others, Quatermass and the Pit
(1967) The Vampire Lovers
(1970) and Scars of Dracula
(1970) for Hammer
, and Asylum
(1972) and The Vault of Horror
(1973) for Amicus
. He also directed Bette Davis
in the black comedy
The Anniversary
(1968).
In the latter part of the 1970s he returned to television, and throughout the 1980s continued to work on shows such as Minder
. He retired in 1992.
He contributed interviews to several DVD extras, such as those with The Saint, and took part in the 2007 BBC 2 documentary series British Film Forever, and in Mark Gatiss
's October 2010 BBC 4 series, A History of Horror, in which he gave his final recorded interview.
Roy Ward Baker died on 5 October 2010 aged 93.
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:...
, credited as Roy Baker for much of his career. His best known film is A Night to Remember (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959. His later career included many horror films and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
shows.
Career
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where his father was a Billingsgate
Billingsgate Fish Market
Situated in East London, Billingsgate Fish Market is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east of the City of London, where the riverside market was originally established...
fish merchant, Baker was educated at a Lycée in Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, France, and at the City of London School
City of London School
The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...
. From 1934 to 1939, he worked for Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London. Gainsborough Studios were active between 1924 and 1951. Built as a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway it...
, a British film production company based in the Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
district of London. His first jobs were menial, making tea for crew members, for example, but by 1938 he had risen to the level of as assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
on Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's The Lady Vanishes
The Lady Vanishes (1938 film)
The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White...
(1938).
He served in the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
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...
, transferring to the Army Kinematograph Unit in 1943 to make better use of his skills as a production manager and director on documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
. One of his superiors at the time was novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
, who insisted on Baker being given his first big break directing The October Man
The October Man
The October Man is a 1947 mystery film starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, based on a novel by Eric Ambler, who also adapted it and produced...
, from an Ambler screenplay, in 1947. Ambler also adapted Walter Lord
Walter Lord
John Walter Lord, Jr. , was an American author, best known for his documentary-style non-fiction account A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.-Early life:...
's A Night to Remember for Baker's 1958 screen version. His next two films, The Weaker Sex (1948) and Paper Orchid
Paper Orchid
Paper Orchid is a 1949 British crime film directed by Roy Ward Baker, with a script written by Val Guest. It featured Hugh Williams, Hy Hazell and Garry Marsh...
(1949) were popular but overshadowed by the success of Morning Departure
Morning Departure
Morning Departure is a 1950 British naval film directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Jay Lewis, and starring John Mills, Nigel Patrick, Peter Hammond, George Cole, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough...
(1950), also featuring John Mills.
Morning Departure drew international attention to Baker's talent and prompted Darryl Zanuck, production head of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, to invite him to Hollywood, though his first film for the company - I'll Never Forget You - was made in the UK. During the early 1950s, Baker worked for three years at Fox where he directed Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
in Don't Bother to Knock
Don't Bother to Knock
Don't Bother to Knock is a 1952 American thriller film starring Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark, directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Daniel Taradash. Monroe is featured as a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where a pilot, played by Widmark, is staying...
(1952) and Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
in the 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
Inferno
Inferno (1953 film)
Inferno is a 1953 American film noir drama/thriller directed by Roy Ward Baker, shot in Technicolor and shown in 3-D Dimension and stereophonic sound on prints for the few theaters equipped for that sound system in 1953.-Plot:...
(1953). He returned to the UK in 1953 and continued to work on films.
He worked for television during the 1960s. He directed episodes of The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, The Persuaders!
The Persuaders!
The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most...
and The Champions
The Champions
The Champions is a British espionage/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure series consisting of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company...
–all adventure series created with an eye on the American market. The low-budget ethic of television production made him well-suited to his next career move into cheaply produced, but lavish-looking British horror films. He directed, among others, Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit (film)
Quatermass and the Pit is a 1967 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions it is a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass and the Pit – written by Nigel Kneale...
(1967) The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara, and Jon Finch. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films. The other films in...
(1970) and Scars of Dracula
Scars of Dracula
Scars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, alongside Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn...
(1970) for Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
, and Asylum
Asylum (1972 film)
Asylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...
(1972) and The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror (film)
The Vault of Horror is a British portmanteau horror film made in 1973 by Amicus Productions. Like its predecessor, Tales from the Crypt, it is based on stories from the EC Comics series written by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines...
(1973) for Amicus
Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions is a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England. It was founded by American producer and screenwriter Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.-Horror:...
. He also directed Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
in the black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
The Anniversary
The Anniversary (film)
The Anniversary is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by Roy Ward Baker. The screenplay by Jimmy Sangster is based on the 1966 play of the same title by Bill MacIlwraith.-Plot:...
(1968).
In the latter part of the 1970s he returned to television, and throughout the 1980s continued to work on shows such as Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
. He retired in 1992.
Later years
In 2000 Baker published his memoirs, Director's Cut: A Memoir of 60 Years in Film, and in 2002 sold his production files and letters at auction.He contributed interviews to several DVD extras, such as those with The Saint, and took part in the 2007 BBC 2 documentary series British Film Forever, and in Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
's October 2010 BBC 4 series, A History of Horror, in which he gave his final recorded interview.
Roy Ward Baker died on 5 October 2010 aged 93.
Partial filmography
Director- The October ManThe October ManThe October Man is a 1947 mystery film starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, based on a novel by Eric Ambler, who also adapted it and produced...
(1947) - The Weaker Sex (1948)
- Paper OrchidPaper OrchidPaper Orchid is a 1949 British crime film directed by Roy Ward Baker, with a script written by Val Guest. It featured Hugh Williams, Hy Hazell and Garry Marsh...
(1949) - Morning DepartureMorning DepartureMorning Departure is a 1950 British naval film directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Jay Lewis, and starring John Mills, Nigel Patrick, Peter Hammond, George Cole, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough...
(1950) - Don't Bother to KnockDon't Bother to KnockDon't Bother to Knock is a 1952 American thriller film starring Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark, directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Daniel Taradash. Monroe is featured as a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where a pilot, played by Widmark, is staying...
(1952) - InfernoInferno (1953 film)Inferno is a 1953 American film noir drama/thriller directed by Roy Ward Baker, shot in Technicolor and shown in 3-D Dimension and stereophonic sound on prints for the few theaters equipped for that sound system in 1953.-Plot:...
(1953) - JacquelineJacqueline (film)-Cast:* John Gregson as Mike McNeil* Kathleen Ryan as Elizabeth McNeil* Jacqueline Ryan as Jacqueline McNeil* Noel Purcell as Mr. Owen* Cyril Cusack as Mr. Flannagan* Tony Wright as Jack McBride* Maureen Swanson as Maggie* Liam Redmond as Mr. Lord...
(1956) - Tiger in the SmokeTiger in the SmokeTiger in the Smoke is a 1956 British crime film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Tony Wright, Bernard Miles and Christopher Rhodes. It is based on the 1952 novel The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham, although the film omits the principal character of...
(1956) - The One That Got Away (1957)
- A Night to Remember (1958)
- The Singer Not the Song (1961)
- Two Left FeetTwo Left Feet (film)Two Left Feet is a 1963 Comedy-drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker, starring Nyree Dawn Porter, Michael Crawford, David Hemmings and Julia Foster....
(1963) - Quatermass and the PitQuatermass and the PitQuatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
(1967) - The AnniversaryThe Anniversary (film)The Anniversary is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by Roy Ward Baker. The screenplay by Jimmy Sangster is based on the 1966 play of the same title by Bill MacIlwraith.-Plot:...
(1968) - Scars of DraculaScars of DraculaScars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Studios.It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, alongside Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn...
(1970) - The Vampire LoversThe Vampire LoversThe Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara, and Jon Finch. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films. The other films in...
(1970) - Foreign ExchangeForeign Exchange (1970 film)Foreign Exchange is a 1970 British television thriller film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Robert Horton, Sebastian Cabot and Jill St. John. It was based on a novel by Jimmy Sangster. A former British spy arranges an exchange of captured spies with Russia.-Cast:* Robert Horton ... John...
(1970, TV film) - Dr. Jekyll and Sister HydeDr. Jekyll and Sister HydeDr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the short story Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their second adaptation of the story after their 1960 film The...
(1971) - AsylumAsylum (1972 film)Asylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...
(1972) - The Vault of HorrorThe Vault of Horror (film)The Vault of Horror is a British portmanteau horror film made in 1973 by Amicus Productions. Like its predecessor, Tales from the Crypt, it is based on stories from the EC Comics series written by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines...
(1973)
External links
- Obituary in The Guardian