Memorial to Jack Clayton, St James the Less Churchyard, Bisham, Berkshire.
"Jack Clayton 1921 - 1995 film director
You walked tallest amongst men my love."
Jack Isaac Clayton was born on 1st March 1921 in Brighton to Beatrice Clayton.
Jack first appears on the 1939 Register living with his retired mother and siblings at Yew Tree Cottage, Eton, Buckinghamshire.
He started his career in film as a child actor in 1929 on the film Dark Red Roses. Later he worked at Denham Film Studios, working his way up from tea boy to assistant director.
In 1944 while serving with the Royal Airforce during World War II, Jack shot his first film. A documentary Naples is a Battlefield. His first feature was the internationally acclaimed Room at the Top in 1959, a harsh indictment of the British class system, which won two Oscars and earned Clayton a Best Director nomination.
Other films directed by Jack Clayton include, The Innocents (1961), The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Our Mother's House (1967), The Great Gatsby (1974), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1988). In 1993 he produced and directed a Film for the BBC, Memento Mori.
Jack married actress Christine Norden (born Mary Lydia Thornton) in 1947, they divorced in 1953, in the same year he married Katherine Kath (born Lily Faess) who he was to divorce also. Finally, he married actress Haya Haraneet, who he remained married to until his death on 26th February 1995 in Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire. The Scotsman reported on Monday 27th February 1995:
"Jack Clayton, film director. - Born: 1921, in Brighton. Died: 25 February, in hospital in Slough, aged 73.
In 1944 while serving with the Royal Airforce during World War II, Jack shot his first film. A documentary Naples is a Battlefield. His first feature was the internationally acclaimed Room at the Top in 1959, a harsh indictment of the British class system, which won two Oscars and earned Clayton a Best Director nomination.
Other films directed by Jack Clayton include, The Innocents (1961), The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Our Mother's House (1967), The Great Gatsby (1974), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1988). In 1993 he produced and directed a Film for the BBC, Memento Mori.
Jack married actress Christine Norden (born Mary Lydia Thornton) in 1947, they divorced in 1953, in the same year he married Katherine Kath (born Lily Faess) who he was to divorce also. Finally, he married actress Haya Haraneet, who he remained married to until his death on 26th February 1995 in Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire. The Scotsman reported on Monday 27th February 1995:
"Jack Clayton, film director. - Born: 1921, in Brighton. Died: 25 February, in hospital in Slough, aged 73.
With only six feature films to his name in a quarter of a century, Jack Clayton was not the most prolific of British film directors. Perhaps this was because his meticulous techniques: and his beady-eyed, almost obsessive involvement with each’ picture could not lend themselves to pot-boilers. “When I am working on a film,” he said, “I do not exist other than on the film; I have no private life. So that when the film is finished, it is really like a kind of life finishing.”
Jack Clayton began working at London Films in the mid- Thirties. He volunteered for wartime service and gained valuable experience with ‘the RAF Film Unit, where he was cameraman, editor, director and finally officer in command. His film of the liberation of Naples, Naples is a Battlefield, was released by the Ministry of Information.
The film director. Michael Winner said last night: “There is no question England has lost one of its great creative geniuses. Jack-was a very close friend of mine. He was outside the ‘normal director-both as a talent and as a human being. He was an exception. Jack was' the -most gentle, quiet, wonderful man. He was a meticulous craftsman with enormous heart and sensitivity."
The film director. Michael Winner said last night: “There is no question England has lost one of its great creative geniuses. Jack-was a very close friend of mine. He was outside the ‘normal director-both as a talent and as a human being. He was an exception. Jack was' the -most gentle, quiet, wonderful man. He was a meticulous craftsman with enormous heart and sensitivity."
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| Jack Isaac Clayton |
Although I have heard of, and remember seeing, some of the movies you listed, I was not familiar with his name.
ReplyDeleteSadly I was both unfamiliar with both Jack Clayton and his films. That fact that his gravestone was so different to the others around it was what drew me to him.
Deletewhat a lovely sentiment on the other side of his stone!
ReplyDeleteIt is lovely. I only noticed it on my second visit to the churchyard.
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