Paul Almond

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Paul Almond
Westmount, Quebec
Born(1931-04-26)April 26, 1931
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DiedApril 9, 2015(2015-04-09) (aged 83)
Malibu, California, U.S.
Occupations
Years active1955–1992
Spouses
Angela Leigh
​
​
(m. 1957; div. 1964)​
​
​
(m. 1967; div. 1974)​
​
(m. 1976)​
Children1
Parent(s)Eric Almond
Rene Almond

Paul Almond OC RCA (April 26, 1931[1] – April 9, 2015) was a Canadian television and motion picture screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is most known for being the director of the first film in the Up series.

Life and career

Paul Almond attended

Oxford University, where he read Philosophy, Politics, Economics; edited the University magazine, Isis; played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club
; and served as president of the university Poetry Society.

At the

Seven Up!
, before embarking on a career as a feature-length film-maker.

In the late 1960s, he attempted to establish a high quality Canadian art cinema with his understated and highly interiorized films Isabel (1968), The Act of the Heart (1970) and Journey (1972), featuring his wife at the time, actress Geneviève Bujold. These films met some critical resistance in Canada, but the trilogy was Almond's most ambitious work and a distinctive contribution to Canadian film.

After an absence from filmmaking of almost a decade, Almond directed three more films: Ups and Downs (1983); Captive Hearts (1987); and The Dance Goes On (1991), featuring Bujold and their son Matthew Almond.

In addition to his television and film work, Almond also produced and directed several plays for television by such authors as

Somerset Maugham
, among others.

In later years, Almond authored eight novels in the Alford Saga. The final novel is titled The Inheritor, a stand-alone autobiographical roman à clef about the remarkable life, loves, agonies, achievements and awards of a prestigious Canadian movie producer, director, and author. It was published in April 2015 by Red Deer Press.

Almond was appointed an Officer of the

Lifetime Achievement Award by the Directors Guild of Canada in 2007. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[2]

Almond was first married to National Ballet of Canada leading dancer Angela Leigh, then to Geneviève Bujold from 1967 to 1974. Their son, Matthew James Almond, was born in 1968. In 1976 he married photographer Joan Harwood Elkins.

Almond maintained a home in

Shigawake, Quebec
.

Almond died on April 9, 2015, in Beverly Hills, California, of cardiac problems from which he had suffered for several years.[3]

Filmography

Bibliography

Novels

  • La Vengeance des Dieux (Art Global Publishers, 1999)

The Alford Saga:

  • The Deserter (McArthur & Co, 2010)
  • The Survivor (McArthur & Co, 2011)
  • The Pioneer (McArthur & Co, 2012)
  • The Pilgrim (McArthur & Co, 2012)
  • Le Déserteur (Quebec-Amerique, 2013)
  • The Chaplain (Sulby Hall Publishers, 2013)
  • Le Défricheur (Quebec-Amerique, 2013)
  • The Gunner (Red Deer Press, 2014)
  • Les Bâtisseurs (Quebec-Amerique, 2014)
  • The Hero (Red Deer Press, 2014)
  • The Inheritor (Red Deer Press, 2015)

Biography

  • High Hopes: Coming of Age in the mid-Century (ECW Press, 1999)(with Michael Ballantyne)
  • The Inheritor (Red Deer Press, 2015. Released in April 2015 by Red Deer Press as the eighth and final novel in the Alford Saga, The Inheritor is a stand-alone autobiographical roman à clef about the remarkable life, loves, agonies and achievements of one of Canada's most distinguished film and television producer-directors)

References

  1. ^ "Canadian Film Encyclopedia - Paul Almond". legacy.tiff.net. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  2. ^ "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26.
  3. ^ Fox, Margalit. "Paul Almond, the Director of 'Seven Up!,' Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-04-14.

External links

See also

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