Some Film Crew Whose Passing Went Unnoticed,

[JamesM]

William Kellner (1900-1996) art director



William Kellner was a European emigre who began working for Powell and Pressburger in the art department for such films a s A Canterbury Tale (1944) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946). After working for Thorold Dickinson on his ghost story Queen of Spades, his talents were spotted by Ealing Studios who put him to work as art dirctor for Sraband for Dead Lovers (1948), A Run for Your Money (1949), Kind Hearts and Corornets (1949) and The Lavander Hill Mob (1951) returning to work with Thorold Dickinson on The Secret People (1952). He worked for Wendy Toye on The Teckman Mystery (1954), for Jack Lee on The Wooden Horse (1950) and Henry Cornelius on I Am A Camera (1955). His later films included Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), The V. I. P.s (1963) and Othello (1965). He also worked in televsion on such as The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-1957). Kellner was the real family name of the Kordas.



Peter Bolton (1914-1996) assistant director



His career as an assistant director began in the 1930s on such as Lilac Domino (1937) continuing this work through the war on such as Pat Jackson's Western Approaches (1944). After the war he worked on the gothic tale of Uncle Silas (1947), Sleeping Car To Trieste (1948), Hamlet (1948), Trottie True (1949), A Day To Remember (1951), The Sord and the Rose (1953), Saint Joan (1957), Left, Right and Centre (1959), The Sundowners (1960), several Norman Hudis Carry On films, The Running Man (1963) directed by Carol Reed and A Man For All Seasons (1966).



Norman Priggen (1924-1999) assistant director and producer



Began as a third or second assistant at Ealing Studios on The Big Blockade (1940), Went The Day Well (1942), My Learned Friend (1943) San Demetrio, London (1943), Fiddlers Three (1944) and Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) becomming a first assistant director for Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), A Run for Your Money (1949), The Magnet (1950), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) as well as second unit work for Pool of London (1950) and The Blue Lamp (1950). He also worked on Mandy (1952), The Cruel Sea (1953), The Square Ring (1954) becomming a production manager for The Night My Numebr Came Up (1955), The Man in the Sky (1957) and Dunkirk (1958). He turned producer with the demise of Ealing Studios, mainly working with Joseph Losey on eight of his films in a ten year period including The Servant (1963), Modesty Blaise (1966), Accident (1967), The Go-Between (1970) and The Assasination of Leon Trotsky (1972). He produced a few horror films, Circus of Horrors (1960) with Sidney Hayers directing and The Creeping Flesh (1972) and Tales That Witnes madness (1973) directed by Freddie Francis.



Guy Elmes (1920-1998) screenwriter



He spent most of his career writing the English screenplays of Italian films, where he began with The Strangers Hand / La Mano Dello Straniero starring Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Richard Basehart and Richard O'Sullivan. He got work in the UK throughout the 1950s on The Planter's Wife (1952), The Flanagan Boy (1954), Bang You're Dead (1954), Across the Bridge (1957) and Serious Charge (1959). He worked in Italy in the 1960s on Lex barker movies and other international productions into the 1970s including Lucio Fulci's White Fang (1973). His final work was for A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square directed by ralph thomas, whose last film this also was.

[smudge]

It's a terrible shame that these names just disappear with no fanfare or salutation to their craft. Whilst I am not 100% on all of them, I must confess that I am a credits watcher and a lot of these people's names do mean something or at least register.



William Kellner A-D'd my favourite TV ; MAN IN A SUITCASE, and you would have thought that Norman Priggen's associations with Losey at least might have brought some attention to his passing.



Thanks for your working in unearthing these reminders James, so we can at least have a moment of reflection through your posts.



SMUDGE

[theuofc]

[quote]name='JamesM' date='Jan 10 2006, 06:24 AM' post='29443']





Thanks, JamesM, for posting the 1996-2003 tributes to crew members who were the backbones of many fine films. All too often, they go unnoticed and forgotten.



Special thanks for the inclusion of Norman Priggen, producer of 8 of Joseph Losey's films including Dirk Bogarde's The Servant (1963), Modesty Blaise (1966), and Accident (1967).



Regards,



Barbara

[JamesM]

Thankyou Barbara and Smudge.



It appears William Kellner was not even interviewed in his latter years. I would be curious to know if he was related to the Kordas.



Whilst performing my research, I did find a few people who are still with us (producer Guido Coen, cameraman David Harcourt). There are still a few names I could not find anything about (screenwriter John V. Baines comes to mind, who wrote two of the stories in Dead of Night (1945) and a sound man turned production manager T. S. Lyndon-Hayes, whose work dates back to the 1930s).