Monty Berman

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Monty Berman

Born 1912
London, England, United Kingdom
Died 14 June 2006
Occupation Producer;
Cinematographer
Camera operator
Director

Nestor Montague "Monty" Berman (1912—14 June 2006) was a British cinematographer and film and television producer. Though frequently employed as a cinematographer, the fact that most of his work was applied to British B-movies made his latter career as a television producer resonate more strongly with the public. In this capacity, he was a key figure in the development of ITC television projects during the 1960s and 1970s. Of these, he is probably most associated today with The Saint. However, he made a number of other contributions to British escapist television of the era. He enjoyed greatest success when paired with other talent, most notably Robert S. Baker and Dennis Spooner.

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[edit] Early career

Berman began his film career as a camera assistant at Twickenham Film Studios when he was 17. He became a camera operator in 1934, working for the Associated British Picture Corporation at Teddington Studios, and later for the comedy producers Ealing Studios.[1]

When World War II came, Berman was allowed to continue his craft in an army film unit. There, he met and befriended Robert S. Baker, with whom he would go on to form a lifelong business partnership.

[edit] Work with Robert S. Baker

In 1948, the recently demobbed duo founded the company Tempean Films which produced more than 30 thriller B-movies in the 1950s.

By 1962 it had become clear that the era of the B-movie was ending and Berman and Baker obtained the television rights to Leslie Charteris's The Saint adventure stories.[2]

Unable to sell the rights on to Associated-Rediffusion, then Britain's largest commercial television company, Berman turned to Lew Grade's ITC.[1] This company was at that time a sister company to ATV, one of the other commercial television companies in the UK, and had access to important export markets.[3] This allowed The Saint to do well in both Britain and in other markets.[4]

[edit] Work with Dennis Spooner

This success led to Berman creating more ITC productions, starting with The Baron in 1966. This show directly led to forming a partnership with one of that show's regular writers, Dennis Spooner. By 1967, the two had launched a production company called Scoton Productions. From 1967 to 1971, Berman and Spooner would create The Champions, Department S, its spin-off Jason King, and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Though none of these programmes lasted more than two seasons, they all survived in the public memory long enough to justify video and DVD release decades later. Indeed, Hopkirk was re-imagined by television producers in 2000 for a two-series run. The pair's final joint creation was 1972's The Adventurer.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Vallance, David. "Monty Berman", The Independent (subscription required), Independent News and Media, 2006-08-04, pp. 42-43. Retrieved on 2006-08-04. (English) 
  2. ^ Gaughan, Gavin (2006-08-14). Monty Berman. GuardianUnlimited: Film. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved on 2006-08-20.
  3. ^ Brockman, David (Undated). The Forgotten ATV. Television House: The Widespread World of Rediffusion. Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Retrieved on 2006-08-20.
  4. ^ Bodenheimer, Dan (2004). The Saint on TV. The Saintly Bible. The Saint Club. Retrieved on 2006-08-20.
  5. ^ Internet Movie Database entry for Monty Berman, accessed 20 August 2006

[edit] External links