(2 May 1923 - 30 December 2021)
The British producer and director Denis O'Dell, who has died of natural causes at the age of 98, will forever be linked with The Beatles because he was an associate producer on their first film, A Hard Day's Night, and was instrumental in working on the later films involving the band and others who were associated with them. In a film career spanning over forty years, O'Dell was an assistant director, a producer and an associate producer, a writer, a production manager, and a second unit and assistant director covering both films and television.
He originally joined the RAF, hoping to become a pilot but his colour blindness scuppered that idea. Later on he became a driver for studio executives and learned about film production. He started in the business as an assistant director on The Demi-Paradise, Anthony Asquith's 1943 drama about a Russian engineer (Laurence Olivier) working in Britain during World War II. Then he was assistant director on many more films throughout the 1940s including The Lamp Still Burns, On Approval, So Evil My Love, The Perfect Woman, Diamond City, They Were Not Divided, Tom Brown's Schooldays and Valley of Eagles (1951), all without credit. From then onwards he was credited for A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge), with Alastair Sim, The Pickwick Papers, with James Hayter, Svengali, with Donald Wolfit, That Lady, with Olivia De Havilland, The Prisoner, with Alec Guinness, and Sea of Sand (aka Desert Patrol) with Richard Attenborough in 1958, after which he became an associate producer.
The first film he produced was Val Guest's It's a Wonderful World, an odd comedy about two songwriters, with Terence Morgan and George Cole and music by Ted Heath and his Orchestra. For Tread Softly Stranger O'Dell also co-wrote the screenplay as he did for Carry On Admiral (aka The Ship Was Loaded). He made a 13-part series called Rendezvous (1959-61), an anthology of short stories, for television. Then The Beatles came along in 1964 with A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester with whom he also worked on How I Won the War with John Lennon and Michael Crawford, and Petulia with Julie Christie. The Beatles' TV show Magical Mystery Tour was co-produced by The Beatles and O'Dell in 1967, while Ringo Starr appeared in The Magic Christian, adapted by Terry Southern from his own novel.
Denis O'Dell produced many other major films including The Deadly Affair and The Offence (both directed by Sidney Lumet) and several more films directed by Richard Lester, namely Juggernaut, Royal Flash, Robin and Marian, The Ritz and Cuba. His last work on a feature film was as executive producer on Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate in 1980. He was the supervising producer in 2021 on the three-part documentary mini-series The Beatles: Get Back, and other work included a book he had written with Bob Neaverson called At the Apple's Core: The Beatles from the Inside, in 2002.
Denis O'Dell was married to and divorced Ruby Taylor with whom he had three children, Denise, Shaun and Kevan (who predeceased Denis). He was also married until his death to Donna Barnes with whom he has two children, Arran and Laragh. His daughter Denise O'Dell followed him into the film business as a producer and production manager .
MICHAEL DARVELL
