MICHAEL ANDERSON

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(30 January 1920 - 25 April 2018)

Michael Anderson

The London-born director Michael Anderson, who has died aged 98, came from an acting family and was himself an actor in Housemaster (1938) and In Which We Serve (1942). Beginning as an assistant director on Spy for a Day (1940) and other films, his debut as a producer, co-writer and co-director with Peter Ustinov was on Private Angelo (1949). He established himself as an international director with Hell is Sold Out, Will Any Gentleman?, The Dam Busters, 1984 and Around the World in Eighty Days. High profile titles followed, including Yangtse Incident, Chase a Crooked Shadow and The Wreck of the Mary Deare. In the 1960s he directed All the Fine Young Cannibals, The Naked Edge, Operation Crossbow, The Quiller Memorandum and The Shoes of the Fisherman. Later films included Doc Savage, Conduct Unbecoming, Logan’s Run and Orca. Then he worked for television until his last feature The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1999) and a video version of Around the World with Simon Callow and Philip Jackson. Michael Anderson was married three times and had six children. His son Michael is an actor and David is a producer.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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