Jack Lee (film director)

Jack Lee (27 January 1913 – 15 October 2002) was a film director, writer, editor and producer.

Wilfred John Raymond Lee was born in the village of Slad near Stroud in Gloucestershire. Among his films are The Wooden Horse (1950),[1] a Second World War film; A Town Like Alice (1956), starring Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch, based on Nevil Shute's novel;[2] and Robbery Under Arms (1957), a Western-style adventure set in Australia, based on the 1888 novel by "Rolf Boldrewood". He served as chairman (1976–1981) of the South Australian Film Corporation,[3] which started the careers of Bruce Beresford and Peter Weir.

Jack Lee was the eldest brother of Laurie Lee, author of Cider with Rosie, but the two were never on good terms. The rivalry may have started when Jack was sent to grammar school (Marling School in Stroud), an advantage not granted to Laurie.[4] He was married two times, in 1946 to Nora Dawson (née Nora Francisca Blackburne) (21 April 1914 – 7 July 2009) after her divorce from Adam Alexander Dawson,[5] and in 1963 to Isabel Kidman, and had two children. He returned frequently to England but spent the rest of his life in Australia, and died in Sydney in 2002.

References

  1. ^ www.radiotimes.com
  2. ^ Halliwells Film 2007 ISBN 978-0007234707
  3. ^ The Making of an Australian Film The Age, 16 June 1976
  4. ^ McFarlane, Brian, "Lee, (Wilfred) Jack Raymond", on the website of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Subscription or UK public library membership required), http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/77340 
  5. ^ The way we were: my life in pictures, The Times 23 August 2005

External links