Michael Balcon

Executive, Producer

About

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Also Known As

Sir Michael Balcon

Birth Place

Birmingham, England, GB

Born

May 19, 1896

Died

October 16, 1977

Biography

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Influential production executive who gave Alfred Hitchcock his first solo directing job ("The Pleasure Garden" 1925) and later founded Gainsborough Pictures, which produced many of Hitchcock's early classics as well as Robert Flaherty's "Man of Aran" (1933). He also headed Gaumont-British and MGM-British during the 1930s and helmed Ealing Studios from 1937 till 1959, during which time it...

Filmography

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A Boy Ten Feet Tall (1965)

Executive Producer

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

The Scapegoat (1959)

Nowhere to Go (1959)

Executive Producer

All at Sea (1958)

Executive Producer

Executive Producer

Photos & Videos

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Scapegoat, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Traitorous Animals, Cats

Scapegoat, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) An Emptiness In The Heart

Family & Companions

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Aileen Leatherman

Wife

Married in 1924.

Notes

He was Knighted in 1948.

Biography

Influential production executive who gave Alfred Hitchcock his first solo directing job ("The Pleasure Garden" 1925) and later founded Gainsborough Pictures, which produced many of Hitchcock's early classics as well as Robert Flaherty's "Man of Aran" (1933). He also headed Gaumont-British and MGM-British during the 1930s and helmed Ealing Studios from 1937 till 1959, during which time it produced the famous postwar series of comedies including "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949), "Whisky Galore" (1949), "The Man in the White Suit" (1951) and "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1952). Balcon later founded Bryanston Films, and took over production at British-Lion in 1964 after a much-publicized battle. Father of former actress Jill Balcon, whose son is actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

Filmography

Producer (Feature Film)

A Boy Ten Feet Tall (1965)

Executive Producer

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

The Scapegoat (1959)

Nowhere to Go (1959)

Executive Producer

All at Sea (1958)

Executive Producer

Executive Producer

Executive Producer

Decision Against Time (1957)

Executive Producer

The Divided Heart (1955)

The Square Ring (1955)

Executive Producer

The Night My Number Came Up (1955)

The Ladykillers (1955)

The Feminine Touch (1955)

Lease of Life (1954)

The Cruel Sea (1953)

The Lavender Hill Mob (1952)

Ivory Hunter (1951)

The Man in the White Suit (1951)

The Blue Lamp (1950)

The Magnet (1950)

Passport to Pimlico (1949)

Whisky Galore! (1949)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Scott of the Antarctic (1948)

Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948)

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)

Nicholas Nickleby (1947)

Hue and Cry (1947)

The Overlanders (1946)

Dead of Night (1945)

Champagne Charlie (1944)

The Bells Go Down (1943)

Went the Day Well? (1942)

Executive Producer

Next of Kin (1942)

A Yank at Oxford (1938)

Windbag the Sailor (1936)

Things Are Looking Up (1935)

The Camels Are Coming (1934)

Faithful Heart (1933)

After the Ball (1933)

The Good Companions (1933)

Falling For You (1933)

Sleeping Car (1933)

The Stronger Sex (1931)

Woman To Woman (1929)

The First Born (1928)

Downhill (1927)

The Lodger (1927)

Easy Virtue (1927)

The Mountain Eagle (1926)

The Pleasure Garden (1925)

The Passionate Adventure (1924)

The White Shadow (1923)

Woman to Woman (1923)

Production Companies (Feature Film)

A Boy Ten Feet Tall (1965)

They All Died Laughing (1964)

Nowhere to Go (1959)

All at Sea (1958)

Decision Against Time (1957)

Life Events

1919

First job as distributor

1923

First film as producer, "Woman to Woman"

1928

Founded Gainsborough Pictures

1931

Appointed head of production at Gaumont-British Studios

1936

Named head of production for MGM-British

1937

Was chief of production and director of Ealing Studios

1959

Founded Bryanston Films

1964

Took over British-Lion Pictures

Videos

Scapegoat, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Traitorous Animals, Cats Melancholy vacationing English teacher Barratt (Alec Guinness) at first doesn't realized he's being shadowed, his first night in a French country town, early in The Scapegoat, 1959, from a Gore Vidal script, co-starring Bette Davis.

Scapegoat, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) An Emptiness In The Heart Opening the MGM-British production, with affecting narration by Alec Guinness, from Gore Vidal’s screenplay based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, as English teacher Barratt, arriving on the ferry at Port Boulogne, Calais, then reaching Le Mans (though the city is never named) and it’s famous cathedral, briefly meeting Peter Bull, in The Scapegoat, 1959, co-starring Bette Davis.

Scapegoat, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Lie To Me Later Alec Guinness, who really is Barrat, an English teacher just in from Paris, meets daffy French countess Du Gue (Bette Davis) who believes he's her look-alike nephew, who has disappeared, leaving his troubles to his twin, in The Scapegoat, 1959, from a Daphne Du Maurier novel.

Dunkirk (1958) -- (Movie Clip) There's A Flap On! Tight opening with newsreels and comic shorts establishing late March, 1940, in Belgium British forces including John Mills as Corporal Binns, with Robert Urquhart as witty Mike, and privates Meredith Edwards and Ray Jackson, speculating about the folks back home, in Dunkirk, 1958, from Ealing studios, also starring Richard Attenborough.

Dunkirk (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Be Like Dad -- Keep Mum! In London, March 1940, irritated with sketchy news from the Ministry Of Information, journalist Foreman (Bernard Lee) at his local, joined by his wife (Maxine Audley), tangling with machine shop owner Holden (Richard Attenborough), whom he considers a profiteer, a merchant seaman (Victor Maddern) joining in, early in Dunkirk, 1958.

Dunkirk (1958) -- (Movie Clip) You're Under Orders Now Now in Sheerness, Kent, having sailed their commandeered boats from London, journalist Foreman (Bernard Lee) realizes British forces in France are being routed, tells the naval officer (Michael Gwynn) he’s willing to sail across himself, inspiring young Frankie (Sean Barrett) and previously timid Holden (Richard Attenborough) to volunteer as well, in Dunkirk, 1958.

Yank At Oxford, A (1938) -- (Movie Clip) The Mother In You After colliding again with the dean (Edmund Gwenn), Robert Taylor (as American student Lee Sheridan) visits a bicycle shop where he begins his first-ever scene with Vivien Leigh (as frisky faculty wife "Mrs. Craddock"), in the MGM-British production A Yank At Oxford, 1938.

Let George Do It! (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Good Evening, Herr Hitler Late in the feature and maybe a spoiler, George Formby (as accidental hero-spy Hepplewhite) has been drugged by under-cover Nazis (Garry Marsh, Romney Brent), and dreams of thwarting their schemes, rescuing pretty colleague Mary (Phyllis Calvert) and finally slugging der Führer, in the Formby vehicle Let George Do It!, 1940.

Let George Do It! (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Mr. Wu's A Window Cleaner Now letgeorgedoit_mrwusawindowcleanernow_FC

Let George Do It! (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Have You Anything To Declare? Thinking he’s arriving in Blackpool (not Bergen, Norway!) singer George (Formby) discovers he’s further-accidentally bunked with the wife (Helena Pickard) of mysterious traveling magician Oscar (Bernard Lee), and is helped by a steward (Johnnie Schofield) and a baffled customs official, in the spy-comedy Let George Do It!, 1940.

Let George Do It! (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Grandad's Flannelette Nightshirt Bumbling at the port, George Formby (as traveling banjo-lele player Hepplewhite) vamps (song by Formby, Harry Gifford and Fred E. Cliffe) while bandmate Alf (Hal Gordon) hustles, early in the wartime Formby vehicle Let George Do It!, 1940, also released as To Hell With Hitler (U.S.A.) and DInky-Doo (U.S.S.R.!).

Dead Of Night (1945) -- (Movie Clip) So It Isn't A Dream This Time? Basil Dearden directs this opening bit, as architect Craig (Mervyn Johns), greeted by Foley (Roland Culver) meets Mary Merrall, Googie Withers, Frederick Valk, Antony Baird and Sally Ann Howes, mystery already, in the Ealing Studios light-horror anthology Dead Of Night, 1945.

Lavender Hill Mob, The - (Original Trailer) An overlooked gold transporter with twenty years service plots to steal a million pounds of gold in the comedy The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) starring Alec Guinness.

Decision Against Time - (Original Trailer) A test pilot (Jack Hawkins) thinks back on his past as he fights to survive a burning plane in Decision Against Time (1957).

Davy - (Original Trailer) The Goon Show's Harry Secombe stars as a musical-hall entertainer who defies family tradition to audition for the opera.

Yank At Oxford, A - (Original Trailer) Robert Taylor is a cocky American student who runs into trouble when he becomes A Yank At Oxford (1938) co-starring a young Vivien Leigh.

Scapegoat, The - (Original Trailer) Alec Guinness is pulled into a mystery when he trades identities in The Scapegoat (1959) co-starring Bette Davis.

Nowhere to Go - (Original Trailer) A burglar on the lam holes up with an innocent English girl in Nowhere to Go (1958), a British film.

Dunkirk - (Original Trailer) The true story of the Allied evacuation of occupied France at the start of World War II in Dunkirk (1958), starring John Mills.

Family

Jill Balcon

Daughter

Actor. Born in 1925.

Daniel Day-Lewis

Grandson

Actor. Mother Jill Balcon.

Companions

Aileen Leatherman

Wife

Married in 1924.

Bibliography

Notes

He was Knighted in 1948.

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