HAVELOCK-ALLAN, (Sir) Anthony

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Producer. Nationality: British. Born: Anthony James Allan Have-lock-Allan (became baronet), in Darlington, England, 28 January 1904. Education: Attended Charterhouse school, and schools in Switzerland. Family: Married 1) the actress Valerie Hobson, 1939 (divorced 1952); two sons; 2) Maria Theresa Consuela Ruis de Villafranca, 1979. Career: 1924–29—artists and recording manager, Brunswick Gramophone Company, London, and Vox, Berlin; stock-broker, advertising representative, London, Evening Standard; in charge of entertainment, Ciro's Club London; 1933—entered films as casting director and producer's assistant; then head of production, British Paramount, 1935; 1938–40—producer for Pinebrook and Two Cities Films; 1942—cofounder, with David Lean and Ronald Neame, Cineguild, and producer or executive producer, 1942–47; 1949—formed Constellation Films; 1958—cofounder, British Home Entertainment. Address: c/o Lloyds Bank, Berkeley Square, London, W.1, England.

Films as Producer:

1935

The Price of Wisdom (Denham); Key to Harmony (Walker); The Village Squire (Denman); Gentleman's Agreement (Pearson); School for Stars (Pedelty); Once a Thief (Pearson); Jubilee Widow (Pearson); Cross Currents (Brunel); The Mad Hatter (Campbell); Lucky Days (Denham); Checkmate (Person); Expert's Opinion (Campbell)

1936

Ticket of Leave (Hankinson); The Secret Voice (Pearson); The Belles of St. Clement's (Campbell); Love at Sea (Brunel); Two on a Doorstep (Huntington); Wednesday's Luck (Pearson); Playboy Adventure (Kellino); House Broken (Hankinson); Murder By Rope (Pearson); Grand Finale (Campbell); Show Flat (Mainwaring); The Scarab Murder Case (Hankinson)

1937

Cross My Heart (Mainwaring); Holiday's End (Carstairs); The Cavalier of the Streets (French); Museum Mystery (Gulliver); The Fatal Hour (Pearson); Night Ride (Carstairs); The Last Curtain (Macdonald); Mr. Smith Carries On(Laurance); Missing, Believed Married (Carstairs); Lancashire Luck (Carstairs)

1938

Incident in Shanghai (Carstairs); A Spot of Bother (Macdonald); Lightning Conductor (Elvey); This Man Is News (Macdonald)

1939

The Lambeth Walk (de Courville); Stolen Life (Czinner); The Silent Battle (Continental Express) (Mason); This Man in Paris (Macdonald)

1941

From the Four Corners (+ d—doc)

1942

Unpublished Story (French) (+ co-sc); In Which We Serve (Coward and Lean)

1944

This Happy Breed (Lean) (co, + co-sc); Blithe Spirit (Lean) (+ co-sc)

1945

Brief Encounter (Lean) (co, + co-sc)

1946

Great Expectations (Lean) (co, + co-sc)

1947

Take My Life (Neame); Blanche Fury (M. Allegret)

1948

Oliver Twist (Lean) (co); The Small Voice (Hideout) (McDonell)

1949

The Interrupted Journey (Birt)

1950

Shadow of the Eagle (Salkow)

1952

Never Take No for an Answer (Cloche and Smart); Meet Me Tonight (Tonight at 8:30) (Pelissier)

1954

The Young Lovers (Chance Meeting) (Asquith)

1958

Orders to Kill (Asquith) (co)

1962

The Quare Fellow (Dreifuss)

1963

An Evening with the Royal Ballet (+ co-d)

1966

Othello (Burge) (co)

1967

The Mikado (Burge) (co)

1968

Up the Junction (Collinson) (co); Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli) (co)

1970

Ryan's Daughter (Lean)

Publications

By HAVELOCK-ALLAN: book—

With Noel Coward and David Lean, Brief Encounter (screenplay) in Masterworks of the British Cinema, London, 1974.

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Anthony Havelock-Allan (like Anthony Asquith and John Knatchbull from titled families) decided not to follow the family tradition and pursue a career in the army, but instead with the Brunswick record company during the 1920s. His later job as the manager of cabaret entertainment at Ciro's Club in London led naturally into his first film assignment, to establish Jack Buchanan, then the leading British film star, in the American market.

Once he joined British Paramount as casting director, and later producer, he was destined to become one of the outstanding film producers of the Golden Age of British films. Besides introducing to the public such future stars as George Sanders, Margaret Rutherford, Wendy Hiller, Alistair Sim, and Vivien Leigh, by the early 1940s, he had produced such successful films as This Man Is News, The Lambeth Walk, Unpublished Story, and This Man in Paris. His two Noël Coward films, In Which We Serve and This Happy Breed, resulted in his forming Cineguild with David Lean and Ronald Neame, and he produced several other important British films under its auspices, including two additional Coward works (Blithe Spirit and Brief Encounter), and two films based on Dickens novels, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist.

Havelock-Allan has contributed his skill and experience as a producer to international organizations, including MGM, for such films as Ryan's Daughter, Orders to Kill, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet.

—John Halas