Desmond Davis

Director

About

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Birth Place

London, England, GB

Born

May 24, 1926

Biography

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British director Desmond Davis entered the film industry in 1944 as a clapper loader, a lowly position in the camera crew hierarchy. By the middle of the 1950s, he'd graduated to the role of camera operator, collaborating directly with the director on setting up each shot. His most fruitful collaboration came when he was teamed with Tony Richardson, already famous for works of British re...

Filmography

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Freedom Fighter (1988)

Love With a Perfect Stranger (1986)

Ordeal By Innocence (1985)

Sherlock Holmes' The Sign of Four (1983)

The Country Girls (1983)

Photos & Videos

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Clash Of The Titans (1981) -- (Movie Clip) Cerberus

Girl With Green Eyes (1964) -- (Movie Clip) I Love The City

Family & Companions

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Leueen MacGrath

Wife

Actor, playwright. Born July 3, 1914, died March 27, 1992; Davis was the second of her five husbands.

Biography

British director Desmond Davis entered the film industry in 1944 as a clapper loader, a lowly position in the camera crew hierarchy. By the middle of the 1950s, he'd graduated to the role of camera operator, collaborating directly with the director on setting up each shot. His most fruitful collaboration came when he was teamed with Tony Richardson, already famous for works of British realism like play adaptation "Look Back In Anger" and bleak show business drama "The Entertainer." While working on their third and final film together, 1963's Oscar-winning period comedy "Tom Jones," Richardson gave Davis a copy of Edna O'Brien's novel "The Lonely Girl," which would become Davis' directorial debut, "Girl With Green Eyes." A sensitive, low-key drama about a naive young Dublin girl in love with an older married man, "Girl" earned Davis comparisons to contemporaries like Richardson. Subsequent films like 1966's love triangle drama "Time Lost And Time Remembered" returned to the territory of naive young women involved in unsatisfactory relationships to lesser acclaim, and Davis retreated to television throughout the 1970s. In 1981, Davis had a hit of an entirely different nature with the fantasy film "Clash Of The Titans." After that he once again took up television, working steadily until retiring from directing in 1994.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

Freedom Fighter (1988)

Love With a Perfect Stranger (1986)

Ordeal By Innocence (1985)

Sherlock Holmes' The Sign of Four (1983)

The Country Girls (1983)

Clash of the Titans (1981)

A Nice Girl Like Me (1969)

Smashing Time (1967)

The Uncle (1966)

Time Lost and Time Remembered (1966)

Girl With Green Eyes (1964)

Happy Go Lovely (1951)

Dialogue Director

Cinematography (Feature Film)

Faces in the Dark (1964)

Camera Operator

Tom Jones (1963)

Camera Operator

A Taste of Honey (1962)

Camera Operator

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Camera Operator

Scream of Fear (1961)

Camera Operator

The Giant Behemoth (1959)

Camera Operator

High Hell (1958)

Camera Operator

Kill Me Tomorrow (1957)

Camera Operator

Three Installations (1952)

Camera Assistant

Writer (Feature Film)

A Nice Girl Like Me (1969)

Time Lost and Time Remembered (1966)

The Uncle (1966)

An Inspector Calls (1954)

Director (Special)

Measure For Measure (1979)

The New Avengers (1978)

Life Events

1944

First film as clapper

1950

Directed his first short film

1963

Made his feature film directing debut

1970

Formed a production company with actress Rita Tushingham

Videos

Clash Of The Titans (1981) -- (Movie Clip) Cerberus Perseus (Harry Hamlin) on his quest with helmeted helpers comes across what appears to be a two-headed version of the three-headed Greek myth dog the Cerberus, in Clash Of The Titans, 1981, effects by Ray Harryhausen.

Girl With Green Eyes (1964) -- (Movie Clip) I Love The City Following credits, lively opening from director Desmond Davis, Rita Tushingham as Kate describing her life in Dublin, and introducing roommate Baba (Lynn Redgrave), in Girl With Green Eyes, 1964, from the novel and screenplay by Edna O'Brien.

Girl With Green Eyes (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Bacon And Cabbage Smitten Irish country girl Kate (Rita Tushingham) contrives to meet handsome writer Gaillard (Peter Finch) at a Dublin tea room without her roommate, in Girl With Green Eyes, 1964, directed by Desmond Davis from Edna O'Brien's novel and screenplay.

Clash Of The Titans (1981) -- (Movie Clip) Last Of The Winged Horses Faced with the challenge of having to track a giant vulture, Perseus (Harry Hamlin) and his mystical poet pal Ammon (Burgess Meredith) sneak up and capture that last flying horse Pegasus (the others were killed by a rival of Zeus), so a big technical sequence for special effects giant Ray Harryhausen, in Clash Of The Titans 1981.

Clash Of The Titans (1981) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Bear Witness Zeus! Opening and ceremonial, from the Ray Harryhausen showcase, starring Harry Hamlin, Burgess Meredith, Laurence Olivier and Ursula Andress, with Donald Houston as aggrieved king Acrisius, Vida Taylor his daughter, appealing to the big guy (whom we will learn is Olivier), in MGM’s Clash Of The Titans 1981.

Clash Of The Titans (1981) -- (Movie Clip) Let Loose The Kraken! Exposition and a quick roll call on Olympus, Laurence Olivier as Zeus angered by actions on earth, consulting Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, Susan Fleetwood and Ursula Andress (Hera, Thetis, Athena and Aphrodite) then instructing Poseidon (Jack Gwillim) to undertake revenge, early in Clash Of The Titans 1981.

Taste Of Honey, A (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Perhaps The Self-Same Song Teacher (Eunice Black) reading Keats' Ode To A Nightingale, then attacking pupil Jo (Rita Tushingham), who escapes and meets again sailor Jimmy (Paul Danquah), along the Manchester ship canal, in Tony Richardson's A Taste Of Honey, 1962.

Girl With Green Eyes (1964) -- (Movie Clip) No Bumps At All Pal Bertie (Pat Laffan) catches Kate (Rita Tushingham) and Baba (Lynn Redgrave) in Dublin traffic, offering them a ride as he delivers a dog to newly almost-single Gaillard (Peter Finch, his first scene), in director Desmond Davis' Girl With Green Eyes, 1964.

Taste Of Honey, A (1962) -- (Movie Clip) What Sort Of Shoes? Abandoned by her hapless mother, Jo (Rita Tushingham) in her first day working at a shoe shop, meets Geoffrey (Murray Melvin), in Tony Richardson's A Taste Of Honey, 1962.

Clash Of The Titans (1981) -- (Movie Clip) Gift From The Gods Perseus (Harry Hamlin) has been working out with his sword when he and Ammon (Burgess Meredith) are alerted to fine weapons and an initially muffled Zeus (Laurence Olivier), with a message, in Clash Of The Titans, 1981.

Companions

Leueen MacGrath

Wife

Actor, playwright. Born July 3, 1914, died March 27, 1992; Davis was the second of her five husbands.

Bibliography

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