Anthony Havelock-Allan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet (28 February 1904–11 January 2003) was a British film producer.

Havelock-Allan was born at the family home of Blackwell Grange, near Darlington, and was educated at Charterhouse and schools in Switzerland. Before becoming a film producer, he had been a stockbroker, jeweller, record company executive and cabaret-manager.

In 1935, Havelock-Allan joined the short-lived British and Dominions Imperial Studios, producing films with them until the studios burnt down in 1936. After working with her on This Man in Paris, Havelock-Allan married actress Valerie Hobson, on 12 April 1939. In 1943, he founded his own company, Cineguild and in 1945 himself, Noel Coward and Ronald Neame, produced David Lean's Brief Encounter. Havelock-Allan also worked with Neame on Lean's Great Expectations in 1946 and was nominated for both films for the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. He also fonded Constellation Films in 1947 and co-founded British Home Entertainment with Lord Brabourne in 1960.

On 12 April 1939 Havelock-Allan married his first wife, the actress Valerie Hobson (later to marry John Profumo), they divorced in 1952. On 26 June 1979 he married Maria Theresa Consuela Sara Ruiz de Villafranca, a daughter of the former Spanish Ambassador to Chile and Brazil. In 1975, he had succeeded to his childless brother's baronetcy and on his own death in 2003, aged 98, his title passed to his son, Mark.