Clive Donner, 1960s-Era Film Director, Dies at 84
Matthew Kruk
September 9, 2010
Clive Donner, 1960s-Era Film Director, Dies at 84
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Clive Donner, who helped define the British New Wave with films like
"The Caretaker" and "Nothing but the Best" and directed the emblematic
swinging '60s film "What's New Pussycat?," died on Tuesday in London. He
was 84.
His death was confirmed by Gavin Asher, a cousin, who told Reuters that
Mr. Donner had had Alzheimer's for several years.
Mr. Donner broke through as a director in 1963 with a low-budget
black-and-white film of Harold Pinter's play "The Caretaker," with Alan
Bates, Donald Pleasence and Robert Shaw.
Since he couldn't find traditional backing for the film, a group of
well-wishers that included Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Peter
Sellers and Noël Coward financed it. The actors waived their salaries,
accepting a share of future profits instead.
Superbly acted, with a distinctive look created by the cinematographer
Nicolas Roeg, "The Caretaker" established Mr. Donner as a filmmaker to
watch.
He delivered on this promise with "Nothing but the Best" (1964), a tart
satire with a screenplay by Frederic Raphael. It told the story of an
ambitious clerk, played by Mr. Bates, who sets out to scale the class
ladder with a little tutoring from an upper-crust scapegrace played by
Denholm Elliott. The cinematographer again was Mr. Roeg, working in
color this time.
Mr. Donner struck box-office gold with his first Hollywood film, "What's
New Pussycat?" (1965), a naughty slapstick comedy with Peter O'Toole and
Sellers thrown among a throng of beauties, among them Capucine, Paula
Prentiss, Romy Schneider and Ursula Andress. The script was by Woody
Allen, who also appeared in the film but later disavowed it. Audiences,
enthralled from the moment Tom Jones began singing the Burt
Bacharach-Hal David title song, voted a resounding yes.
"Donner, like Richard Lester, seems to have anticipated the
transformation of England from mum to mod," Andrew Sarris wrote in "The
American Cinema" in 1969. "It remains to be seen if the prophet can
avoid being swallowed by his own revolution."
Mr. Donner delivered a dud with the frantic Jack Lemmon-Peter Falk
comedy "Luv" (1967), and after the 1960s his career tapered off. His
later efforts included the less than memorable "Nude Bomb" (1980) - a
spinoff of the television series "Get Smart" - and "Charlie Chan and the
Curse of the Dragon Queen" (1981), with Peter Ustinov as the Chinese
detective. In the 1980s he directed George C. Scott in two Dickens
classics remade for television, "Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol."
Clive Donner, who is unrelated to the American director Richard Donner,
was born in London on Jan. 21, 1926. His father was a concert violinist
and his mother ran a dress shop. While attending Kilburn Polytechnic he
made a short 8-millimeter film, about a boys' sports club, and soon
after graduating he found work as a cutting-room assistant at Denham
Studios.
After military service he returned to Denham and within a few years was
hired as a full-fledged editor at Pinewood Studios, where he worked on
"Scrooge," "The Card," "The Million Pound Note," "I Am a Camera" and
other films.
He directed several low-budget films at Pinewood, including "The Secret
Place" (1957), a caper film with David McCallum playing a troubled
delinquent, and "Heart of a Child" (1958), a three-handkerchief
boy-and-his-dog film. He also directed episodes of the British
television series "Danger Man" and "Sir Francis Drake" and a documentary
series about India, "Mighty and Mystical," for Granada Television.
A hint of things to come could be seen in "Some People" (1962). Shot on
location in Bristol, England, it tells the story of disaffected
teenagers who form a rock group. It captured the pent-up energy of
British youth culture, anticipating shock waves just over the horizon.
After "Luv," Mr. Donner returned to Britain with a coming-of-age film,
"Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" (1968), about a teenage boy's
sexual fantasies, and "Alfred the Great" (1969), a sweeping, big-budget
historical drama that pitted David Hemmings, as Alfred, against a savage
Viking chieftain, played by Michael York. Critics judged the film to be
as bad as it sounds.
Although "Alfred" nearly ended Mr. Donner's career as a director of
feature films, it did yield a dividend. Mr. Donner married its costume
designer, Jocelyn Rickards, who died in 2005. He leaves no immediate
survivors.
Unable to find work directing films, Mr. Donner made television
commercials and directed plays. "Kennedy's Children," which opened in a
pub theater in Islington, London, in 1974, became a hit that transferred
to the West End and Broadway. That same year he directed the film
"Vampira," with David Niven as a somewhat decrepit Count Dracula. (It
was released in the United States as "Old Dracula.")
More successfully, he directed the television film "Rogue Male" (1976),
a taut thriller about a British aristocrat, played by Mr. O'Toole, who
tries to assassinate Hitler and flees to Dorset, pursued by Gestapo
agents. It delighted the critics - The Daily Telegraph of London called
it "a super glossy which would have done credit to Pinewood or Ealing in
their heyday" - and remained one of Mr. Donner's favorite films.
Brad Ferguson
Matthew Kruk <nob...@home.com> wrote:
> Mr. Donner delivered a dud with the frantic Jack Lemmon-Peter Falk
> comedy "Luv" (1967), and after the 1960s his career tapered off. His
> later efforts included the less than memorable "Nude Bomb" (1980) - a
> spinoff of the television series "Get Smart"
This is usually run on TV these days as "The Return of Maxwell Smart."
It's awful. I remember that they asked Mel Brooks to participate and
then they ignored everything he said or did.
> - and "Charlie Chan and the
> Curse of the Dragon Queen" (1981), with Peter Ustinov as the Chinese
> detective. In the 1980s he directed George C. Scott in two Dickens
> classics remade for television, "Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol."
This version of "A Christmas Carol" is considered by many to be second
only to "Scrooge," the one with Alastair Sim. It seems to have been
dismissed here, though.
> After military service he returned to Denham and within a few years was
> hired as a full-fledged editor at Pinewood Studios, where he worked on
> "Scrooge,"
Ah.
Diner
> In article <ZS%ho.142506$De6.26...@en-nntp-01.dc1.easynews.com>,
>
> Matthew Kruk <nob...@home.com> wrote:
> > Mr. Donner delivered a dud with the frantic Jack Lemmon-Peter Falk
> > comedy "Luv" (1967), and after the 1960s his career tapered off. His
> > later efforts included the less than memorable "Nude Bomb" (1980) - a
> > spinoff of the television series "Get Smart"
>
> This is usually run on TV these days as "The Return of Maxwell Smart."
> It's awful. I remember that they asked Mel Brooks to participate and
> then they ignored everything he said or did.
In the "Get Smart" DVD box set, they show an hour's worth of the "Get
Smart" seminar done with the cast and crew at the Museum of TV and
Radio (Paley Center). At one point they discuss what happened with
"The Nude Bomb."
Producer Leonard Stern said he came up with the original concept, but
he had to leave it to work on a project for another studio, and his
script was extensively rewritten.
Don Adams said (and this is to the best of my recollection, since I
don't have the DVD with me right now) that he had a meeting with Clive
Donner, and Donner told him he had just seen some episodes of the TV
show for the first time. Donner seemed amazed that people found the TV
show funny. Donner ended up having the script rewritten and making the
movie his way. Needless to say, hiring someone who didn't understand
the appeal of the original series was a huge mistake.
-Tim
R H Draney
>
>Don Adams said (and this is to the best of my recollection, since I
>don't have the DVD with me right now) that he had a meeting with Clive
>Donner, and Donner told him he had just seen some episodes of the TV
>show for the first time. Donner seemed amazed that people found the TV
>show funny. Donner ended up having the script rewritten and making the
>movie his way. Needless to say, hiring someone who didn't understand
>the appeal of the original series was a huge mistake.
If only he'd used his director's credit for niceness instead of evil!...r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.