William MacQuitty
Encyclopedia
William MacQuitty was a British film producer and also a writer and photographer. He is most noted for his production of the 1958 Rank Organisation
/ Pinewood Studios
film, A Night to Remember, which recreates the story of the sinking of RMS Titanic, based on the book of the same name by Walter Lord
.
, the son of the Managing Director of the Belfast Telegraph, he was educated at Campbell College
. MacQuitty attained employment with the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (known today as the Standard Chartered), at the age of 18, where he remained until 1939.
In 1926, he was posted to the Far East, joining the Auxiliary Punjab Light Horse at Amritsar
, who were a handful of volunteer soldiers whose job was to defend the memsahibs and the children in a city that was widely regarded as one of the most seditious in India.
In 1928 he became a founder member of the Lahore Flying Club. Further postings in the Far East included Ceylon, Siam, Malaya
and China before he resigned and returned to Ireland in 1939.
Intending to take up psychoanalysis
as a career, MacQuitty started a seven-year medical course in London
but his amateur film Simple Silage, made for the benefit of Ulster farming neighbours, came to the attention of the Ministry of Information, launching him on a new and unexpected career.
, MacQuitty’s film contributions to the war effort included Out of Chaos, a portrait of the war artists Henry Moore, Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland, among others, and The Way We Live (1946), which chronicled the rebuilding of the heavily bombed city of Plymouth. He also filmed T. S. Eliot
reading Little Gidding, and Stanley Spencer and his crucifix painting in Cookham churchyard.
Big feature films then followed, including The Happy Family (1952), Street Corner (1953), The Beachcomber (1954), and Above us the Waves (1954) which starred John Mills
– an account of the disabling of the German Battleship Tirpitz
by British Midget submarines. It premiered in Malta
, attended by Prince Phillip, in 1954. The British premiere took place the following year with a celebrity guest list headed by the Queen and Lord Mountbatten of Burma
. It became Winston Churchill
’s favourite film.
His most famous and brilliant film creation came in 1958, with A Night to Remember, starring Kenneth More
, recalling the sinking of RMS Titanic. As a six-year-old, MacQuitty had witnessed the ship being launched from the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast
in May 1911, and watched the maiden voyage departure the following year. For the making of the film, he enlisted several Titanic survivors including Joseph Boxhall
- Fourth Officer on Titanic - who was MacQuitty's personal advisor. Many scholars and film critics still regard this film as the best of all the Titanic films (of which there are at least twelve). He was amused and flattered in 1997 when James Cameron
, who had just completed his own epic on Titanic, took the trouble to thank him personally for his vision in creating A Night to Remember and causing a “ripple effect through modern culture” which he said had partly inspired his own film.
In 1959, MacQuitty helped to found Ulster Television, becoming its first managing director and running the station, creating a link with Queen’s University, Belfast, and showing Britain’s first adult education program, Midnight Oil, foreshadowing the Open University
. His last major film was The Informers (1964).
for the first time, initially to research and make a film about Gordon of Khartoum (though this never appeared), MacQuitty became fascinated by the attempts to save the Great Temple of Abu Simbel
from the flooding that would follow the completion of the Aswan High Dam. MacQuitty's idea was to save the temples, leaving them where they were and building a dam around them, containing crystal-clear filtered water kept at the same height as the Nile water outside. Visitors would then have looked at the engulfed temples from observation galleries at various depths and from underneath. He envisaged that in time the dam would be outdated by atomic power and the water level lowered, restoring the temples to their original state. Preserving the temples by jacking them up ignored the effect of erosion when exposed to sandy desert winds. The idea was turned into a proposal by architects Maxwell Fry
and Jane Drew
, working with civil engineer Ove Arup
. However the proposal was rejected and by a massive feat of archaeological engineering the temples were raised above water level. MacQuitty’s plan has always been regarded as supremely elegant and probably the best in terms of conservation of the temples.
, all illustrated with his award-winning photographs from a library of a quarter of a million taken by him over 60 years in 75 different countries. Buddha, published in 1969 included a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and in 1971 the Shah of Iran
sponsored a large volume to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of his country.
His most successful book, published in 1972, was Tutankhamun: The Last Journey, which sold half a million copies. His definitive photograph of Tutankhamun
’s funerary mask was seen all over the world, as it was used as the poster for the 1972 British Museum
exhibition of the tomb’s treasures.
In 2002 the Royal Photographic Society
described him as “a phenomenon in film”, and he was awarded the Society’s Lumiè re Award for distinction in film and photography.
Throughout his life, MacQuitty was endlessly delighted to learn from the people he met all around the world, particularly the Orient and the Middle East and was enthralled by the exotic contrast with his homeland. He had no time for racism. He enjoyed multiple career paths and amassed a huge tally in what he referred to as "The Banquet of Life".
He died in London, in 2004 aged 98.
Further reading: A Life to Remember by William MacQuitty, 1991 Quartet Books.
As photographer:
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....
/ Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
film, A Night to Remember, which recreates the story of the sinking of RMS Titanic, based on the book of the same name by 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:...
.
Early life
Born in BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, the son of the Managing Director of the Belfast Telegraph, he was educated at Campbell College
Campbell College
Campbell College is a Voluntary Grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The College educates boys from ages 11–18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and is a member of the Independent Schools Council.The school occupies...
. MacQuitty attained employment with the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (known today as the Standard Chartered), at the age of 18, where he remained until 1939.
In 1926, he was posted to the Far East, joining the Auxiliary Punjab Light Horse at Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
, who were a handful of volunteer soldiers whose job was to defend the memsahibs and the children in a city that was widely regarded as one of the most seditious in India.
In 1928 he became a founder member of the Lahore Flying Club. Further postings in the Far East included Ceylon, Siam, Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
and China before he resigned and returned to Ireland in 1939.
Intending to take up psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
as a career, MacQuitty started a seven-year medical course in London
London
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...
but his amateur film Simple Silage, made for the benefit of Ulster farming neighbours, came to the attention of the Ministry of Information, launching him on a new and unexpected career.
Films
After an informal apprenticeship working with the established film producer Sydney BoxSydney Box
Sydney Box was a British film producer and screenwriter, brother of another prominent British filmmaker, Betty Box. He produced the postwar screenplay, The Seventh Veil, which earned him the 1946 Oscar for best original screenplay with his then wife Muriel Box after which the couple were hired by...
, MacQuitty’s film contributions to the war effort included Out of Chaos, a portrait of the war artists Henry Moore, Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland, among others, and The Way We Live (1946), which chronicled the rebuilding of the heavily bombed city of Plymouth. He also filmed T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
reading Little Gidding, and Stanley Spencer and his crucifix painting in Cookham churchyard.
Big feature films then followed, including The Happy Family (1952), Street Corner (1953), The Beachcomber (1954), and Above us the Waves (1954) which starred John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
– an account of the disabling of the German Battleship Tirpitz
German battleship Tirpitz
Tirpitz was the second of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April...
by British Midget submarines. It premiered in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, attended by Prince Phillip, in 1954. The British premiere took place the following year with a celebrity guest list headed by the Queen and Lord Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. It became Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
’s favourite film.
His most famous and brilliant film creation came in 1958, with A Night to Remember, starring Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
, recalling the sinking of RMS Titanic. As a six-year-old, MacQuitty had witnessed the ship being launched from the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
in May 1911, and watched the maiden voyage departure the following year. For the making of the film, he enlisted several Titanic survivors including Joseph Boxhall
Joseph Boxhall
Commander Joseph Groves Boxhall RD RNR was the Fourth Officer on the , and later served as a naval officer in World War I.-Early life:...
- Fourth Officer on Titanic - who was MacQuitty's personal advisor. Many scholars and film critics still regard this film as the best of all the Titanic films (of which there are at least twelve). He was amused and flattered in 1997 when James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
, who had just completed his own epic on Titanic, took the trouble to thank him personally for his vision in creating A Night to Remember and causing a “ripple effect through modern culture” which he said had partly inspired his own film.
In 1959, MacQuitty helped to found Ulster Television, becoming its first managing director and running the station, creating a link with Queen’s University, Belfast, and showing Britain’s first adult education program, Midnight Oil, foreshadowing the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
. His last major film was The Informers (1964).
The Abu Simbel scheme
Visiting EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
for the first time, initially to research and make a film about Gordon of Khartoum (though this never appeared), MacQuitty became fascinated by the attempts to save the Great Temple of Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel temples refers to two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel in Nubia, southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 230 km southwest of Aswan...
from the flooding that would follow the completion of the Aswan High Dam. MacQuitty's idea was to save the temples, leaving them where they were and building a dam around them, containing crystal-clear filtered water kept at the same height as the Nile water outside. Visitors would then have looked at the engulfed temples from observation galleries at various depths and from underneath. He envisaged that in time the dam would be outdated by atomic power and the water level lowered, restoring the temples to their original state. Preserving the temples by jacking them up ignored the effect of erosion when exposed to sandy desert winds. The idea was turned into a proposal by architects Maxwell Fry
Maxwell Fry
Edwin Maxwell Fry, CBE, RA, FRIBA, FRTPI, known as Maxwell Fry , was an English modernist architect of the middle and late 20th century, known for his buildings in Britain, Africa and India....
and Jane Drew
Jane Drew
Dame Jane Drew, DBE, FRIBA was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the AA School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern Movement in London....
, working with civil engineer Ove Arup
Ove Arup
Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE known as Ove Arup, was a leading Anglo-Danish engineer and generally considered to be one of the foremost architectural structural engineers of his time...
. However the proposal was rejected and by a massive feat of archaeological engineering the temples were raised above water level. MacQuitty’s plan has always been regarded as supremely elegant and probably the best in terms of conservation of the temples.
Writer and Photographer
That experience led to his first book, Abu Simbel, published in 1965 and lavishly illustrated with his own photographs. He went on to produce almost a book a year on a variety of subjects, reflecting his interests in the OrientOrient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
, all illustrated with his award-winning photographs from a library of a quarter of a million taken by him over 60 years in 75 different countries. Buddha, published in 1969 included a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and in 1971 the Shah of Iran
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, Shah of Persia , ruled Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
sponsored a large volume to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of his country.
His most successful book, published in 1972, was Tutankhamun: The Last Journey, which sold half a million copies. His definitive photograph of Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
’s funerary mask was seen all over the world, as it was used as the poster for the 1972 British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
exhibition of the tomb’s treasures.
In 2002 the Royal Photographic Society
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...
described him as “a phenomenon in film”, and he was awarded the Society’s Lumiè re Award for distinction in film and photography.
Throughout his life, MacQuitty was endlessly delighted to learn from the people he met all around the world, particularly the Orient and the Middle East and was enthralled by the exotic contrast with his homeland. He had no time for racism. He enjoyed multiple career paths and amassed a huge tally in what he referred to as "The Banquet of Life".
He died in London, in 2004 aged 98.
Further reading: A Life to Remember by William MacQuitty, 1991 Quartet Books.
Books
As author and photographer:- Abu Simbel, 1965 (foreword by I.E.S. Edwards)
- Budda, 1969 (foreword by The Dalai Lama)
- Tutankhamun: The Last Journey, 1972
- The World in Focus, 1974 (foreword by Arthur C. Clarke)
- Island of Isis, 1976
- The Joy of Knowledge/Random House Encyclopedia, 1977 (major contributor)
- The Wisdom of the Ancient Egyptians, 1978
- Ramesses the Great, Master of the World, 1979
- A Life to Remember, 1991 (autobiography, foreword by Arthur C. Clarke)
- Survival Kit: How to Reach Ninety and Make the Most of It, 1996
As photographer:
- Irish Gardens, with Edward Hyams, 1967
- Great Botanical Gardens of the World, with Edward Hyams, 1969
- Persia, the Immortal Kingdom, with texts by Roman Girshman, Vladimir Minorsky and Ramesh Sanghvi, 1971
- Princes of Jade, with Edmund CaponEdmund CaponEdmund George Capon AM, OBE, is an art scholar specialising in Chinese art. He has been director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1978...
, 1973 - Inside China, with Malcolm MacDonald, 1980
- The Glory of India, with commentary by Chandra Kumar, 1982 (foreword by John Masters)
External links
- Obituary (The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
) - Titanic Historical Society Official Website
- A Night to Remember Plot, Cast, Crew
- National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prints by William MacQuitty