Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
---|---|
Citizenship | United Kingdom United States |
Education | Hurstpierpoint College |
Alma mater | University College School |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1939–1991 |
Spouse(s) | Beryl Yolanda Warburton
Heanly (m. 1933 – div. 1992) Donna Friedberg (m. 1993) |
Children | Christopher Neame |
Parent(s) | Ivy Close Elwin Neame |
Ronald Neame
Neame then moved into directing, and some notable films included, The Man Who Never Was (1956), which chronicled Operation Mincemeat, a British WWII deception operation, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), which won Maggie Smith her first Oscar, and the action-adventure disaster film The Poseidon Adventure (1972). He also directed I Could Go On Singing (1963), Judy Garland's last film, and Scrooge (1970), starring Albert Finney.
For his contributions to the film industry, in 1996 Neame was appointed a
Early career
Born in
He was fortunate enough to be hired as an assistant cameraman on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie, directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock. Neame's own career as a cinematographer began with the musical comedy Happy (1933), and he continued to develop his skills in various "quota quickies" films for several years.
His credits as cinematographer include Major Barbara (1941), In Which We Serve (1942), and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing. At the 15th Academy Awards, In Which We Serve won an Academy Honorary Award, and Neame was nominated for an Best Special Effects for his camerawork on One of Our Aircraft Is Missing.[5]
As producer and screenwriter
Following the success of In Which We Serve, director David Lean,associate producer Anthony Havelock-Allan, and cinematographer Neame formed a new production company together, Cineguild. Though the company only produced nine films between 1944 and 1950, it launched the directing careers of Lean and Neame and the producing career of Havelock-Allan.
The trio's first three films were adaptations of Coward's works: This Happy Breed, Blithe Spirit, and Brief Encounter. All three films were Directed by Lean, shot by Neame, produced by Havelock-Allan, and co-written from all three. Brief Encounter, which was adapted from Coward's one-act play Still Life, earned all three partners an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.
Following their success adapting Coward, the trio decided to adapt the works of Charles Dickens. Their screenplay for their first adaptation, Great Expectations, earned the trio another Academy Award nomination. The film also marked an important shift in Neame's career, as it was his first film on which he was not cinematographer. Instead, he served as a producer alongside Havelock-Allan. The next year, he made his directorial debut with Take My Life, again produced by Havelock-Allan.
Cineguild's next film, Oliver Twist, was the beginning of the end for the production company. The film received criticism for antisemitism as a result of Alec Guinness' portrayal of Fagin. It was Havelock-Allan's last film with the company. Neame produced one more film for Cineguild, Lean's The Passionate Friends, before leaving to write, produce, and direct Golden Salamander. Lean's next film, Madeleine, was Cineguild's last, and the only Cineguild production without Neame or Havelock-Allan.
Following Cineguild's dissolution, Neame produced
As director
Neame made his directorial debut under the Cineguild banner, with Take My Life (1947), which was released by British producer J. Arthur Rank's General Film Distributors in the United Kingdom in 1947 and by Rank's Eagle-Lion Films in the United States in 1949.[6] Neame began a transition to the American film industry at the suggestion of Rank, who asked him to study the Hollywood production system.[7]
He worked again with
Neame also directed I Could Go On Singing (1963), Judy Garland's last film, co-starring Dirk Bogarde; and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), which won Maggie Smith her first Oscar.
Neame was recruited to direct The Poseidon Adventure (1972) after the contracted director left the production. He later characterised The Poseidon Adventure as "my favourite film" because it earned him enough to retire comfortably.[4] He enjoyed a long friendship with Walter Matthau, whom he directed in two later films, Hopscotch (1980) and First Monday in October (1981).
Neame's final feature-length film, Foreign Body, a comedy starring Victor Banerjee, was filmed in England and released in 1986.
Personal life
Neame married Beryl Heanly in 1933. They legally separated in 1971 and divorced in 1992. The couple had one son, Christopher, a writer/producer who died one year after his father's death. Ronald's only grandson, Gareth Neame, is a successful television producer, who represents the fourth generation of Neames in the film industry. Ronnie Neame's second marriage took place in Santa Barbara on 12 September 1993. His wife, Donna Bernice Friedberg, is also in the business – a film researcher and television producer, who worked on his 1979 movie Meteor. He referred to their meeting as a "coup de foudre".[citation needed]
In 1996 Neame was appointed a
Death
Neame died on 16 June 2010 after suffering complications from a broken leg.[8] The break required two surgical procedures from which Neame never recovered.[9]
In an interview in 2006, he jokingly stated, "When people ask me about the secret to my longevity, I say the honest answer is two large vodkas at lunchtime and three large scotches in the evening. All my doctors have said to me, 'Ronnie, if you would drink less, you'd live a lot longer.' But, they're all dead, and I'm still here at 95."[10]
Filmography
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1944 | This Happy Breed | No | Yes | No | Also associate producer (uncredited) |
1945 | Blithe Spirit | No | Yes | No | |
1945 | Brief Encounter | No | Yes | uncredited | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Also production manager |
1946 | Great Expectations | No | Yes | Yes | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
1947 | Take My Life | Yes | No | No | |
1948 | Oliver Twist | No | No | Yes | |
1949 | The Passionate Friends | No | No | Yes | |
1950 | Golden Salamander | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
1951 | The Magic Box | No | No | Yes | |
1952 | The Card | Yes | No | No | |
1953 | The Million Pound Note | Yes | No | No | |
1956 | The Man Who Never Was | Yes | No | No | |
1957 | The Seventh Sin | Yes | No | No | |
Windom's Way | Yes | No | No | ||
1958 | The Horse's Mouth | Yes | No | Yes | |
1960 | Tunes of Glory | Yes | No | No | |
1962 | Escape from Zahrain | Yes | No | Yes | |
1963 | I Could Go On Singing | Yes | No | No | |
1964 | The Chalk Garden | Yes | No | No | |
1965 | Mister Moses | Yes | No | No | |
1966 | A Man Could Get Killed | Yes | No | No | |
Gambit | Yes | No | No | ||
1968 | Prudence and the Pill | Uncredited | No | No | |
1969 | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | Yes | No | No | |
1970 | Hello-Goodbye | uncredited | No | No | Replaced director Jean Negulesco |
Scrooge | Yes | No | No | ||
1972 | The Poseidon Adventure | Yes | No | No | |
1974 | The Odessa File | Yes | No | No | |
1979 | Meteor | Yes | No | No | also British Representative |
1980 | Hopscotch | Yes | No | No | |
1981 | First Monday in October | Yes | No | No | also Speaker Over PA System (uncredited) |
1986 | Foreign Body | Yes | No | No | |
1990 | The Magic Balloon | Yes | Yes | No | Short film |
Camera operator
- Toni (1928)
- Adam's Apple (1928)
- The Maid of the Mountains (1932)
- Fires of Fate (1932)
- Mr. Bill the Conqueror (1932)
- For the Love of Mike (1932)
- Happy (1933)
- A Southern Maid (1933)
- Give Her a Ring (1934)
- Girls Will Be Boys (1934)
- The Old Curiosity Shop (1934)
- Radio Parade of 1935 (1935)
- Once in a Million (1936)
Assistant camera
- Blackmail (1929)
Cinematographer
- Drake of England (1935)
- Invitation to the Waltz (1935)
- Joy Ride (1935)
- Honours Easy (1935)
- The Improper Duchess (1936)
- King of the Castle (1936)
- Music Hath Charms (1936)
- The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936)
- A Star Fell from Heaven (1936)
- Reasonable Doubt (1936)
- The Scarab Murder Case (1936)
- Strange Experiment (1937)
- Feather Your Nest (1937)
- Radio Lover (1937)
- Cafe Colette (1937)
- Catch as Catch Can (1937)
- Brief Ecstasy (1937)
- Variety Hour (1937)
- Against the Tide (1937)
- Keep Fit (1937)
- Member of the Jury (1937)
- The Gaunt Stranger (1938)
- I See Ice (1938)
- Second Thoughts (1938)
- Murder in the Family (1938)
- Who Goes Next? (1938)
- Penny Paradise (1938)
- It's in the Air (1938)
- The Ware Case (1938)
- Young Man's Fancy (1939)
- Let's Be Famous (1939)
- Trouble Brewing (1939)
- The Four Just Men (1939)
- Young Man's Fancy (1939)
- Cheer Boys Cheer (1939)
- Come on George!(1939)
- Return to Yesterday (1940)
- Let George Do It! (1940)
- Saloon Bar (1940)
- Major Barbara (1941)
- A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941) (Flying sequences)
- One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
- In Which We Serve (1942)
- This Happy Breed (1944)
- Blithe Spirit (1945)
References
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/103059. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-8135-4077-1
- ^ Neame, Ronald (1911–), BFI Screenonline
- ^ a b c Matthew Sweet (19 October 2003). "Ronald Neame (2003 interview at the National Film Theatre)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 March 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
- ^ "The 15th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ "Take My Life (1947) Company Credits". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
- ^ Ronald Neame, Filmmaker, Dies at 99
- ^ Director Ronald Neame dies aged 99
- ^ Ronald Neame Obituary Archived 22 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ronald Neame, prolific British filmmaker and cinematographer, dies at 99". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023.
Bibliography
- Neame, Ronald (2003). Straight from the Horse's Mouth. Lanham, Maryland & Oxford: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810844907.