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John Guillermin
Yvon Jean Guillermin (11 November 1925 – 27 September 2015), known as John Guillermin, was an English film director, writer and producer. Working both in the United Kingdom and the United States, he was most active in big-budget, action-adventure films throughout his lengthy career.
His better-known films include I Was Monty's Double (1958), Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959), Never Let Go (1960), Tarzan Goes to India (1962), Waltz of the Toreadors (1962), The Blue Max (1966), The Bridge at Remagen (1969), The Towering Inferno (1974), King Kong (1976), Death on the Nile (1978), Sheena (1984) and King Kong Lives (1986). In the 1980s, he worked on much less prestigious projects, and his final films consisted of lower-budgeted theatrical releases and TV movies.
According to one obituary, "Regardless of whether he was directing a light comedy, war epic or crime drama, Mr. Guillermin had a reputation as an intense, temperamental perfectionist, notorious for screaming at cast and crew alike. His domineering manner often alienated producers and actors...But Mr. Guillermin's impeccable eye and ability to capture both intimate moments and large-scale action scenes usually overcame that reputation."
Yvon Jean Guillermin was born in London on 11 November 1925. His parents, Joseph and Geneviève, were French. His father worked in the perfume industry. Guillermin remarked in a 1976 interview "I have a British passport but actually I'm a bloody Frog." He grew up in Purley, Surrey ("one of those towns you drive through and never stop at on your way to the coast"), where he attended St Anne's School for Boys. Later he studied at St John's Secondary School For Boys, then for three years at the City of London School.
Guillermin joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 at the age of 17, lying about his age. This involved studying for six months at the University of Cambridge; when he was 18, he became a British citizen. He also studied flying at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. "The war basically saved me," he said later. "It got me away from my mother."
Guillermin wanted to be a director since he had seen Treasure Island at the cinema when he was seven. After mustering out of the Royal Air Force at the age of 22, Guillermin's directorial career began in France with documentary filmmaking, some of which was for the perfume company his father worked for. According to a critical review of Guillermin's work, "One of his stylistic constants, an expert use of handheld camera to add grit and muscle to key scenes, may be rooted in those early efforts, and they function as counterweights to Guillermin's penchant for forceful lines, a very plastic sense of interior spaces, and use of overhead shots...Guillermin's interest in conveying how people and spaces relate to one another and how decisions are reached and carried out suggests a spark to his filmmaking that one might call Griersonian even if the grandfather of British documentary focused on social development and progress as opposed to collapse."
In 1948, Guillermin moved back to London. With Robert Jordan Hill he set up a small production company, Advent Films. Together they made Bless 'Em All (1948) which Guillermin helped produce; it was directed by Hill and featured Max Bygraves in his film debut. Guillermin and Hill then wrote and produced two films starring the cockney character actor Ben Wrigley: Melody in the Dark (1949), directed by Hill, and High Jinks in Society (1949), directed by Hill and Guillermin. Both films were distributed by Adelphi Pictures for whom Guillermin would write and direct Torment (1950), a thriller. He went to Hollywood in 1950 to study film-making methods.
Guillermin made several movies for the low-budget Vandyke Productions, a company run by Nigel and Roger Proudlock. Two were based on scripts by Alec Coppel, Smart Alec (1951), a thriller starring Peter Reynolds, and Two on the Tiles (1951), a comedy. Also for Vandyke, Guillermin directed Four Days (1951), a thriller with Reynolds, and Song of Paris (1952), a comedy with Dennis Price. Guillermin received an offer from the short-lived Group 3 Films to make Miss Robin Hood (1952), a comedy starring Margaret Rutherford. Back at Vandyke, he codirected Strange Stories (1953) with Don Chaffey. He made episodes of the TV series Your Favorite Story (1953).
John Guillermin
Yvon Jean Guillermin (11 November 1925 – 27 September 2015), known as John Guillermin, was an English film director, writer and producer. Working both in the United Kingdom and the United States, he was most active in big-budget, action-adventure films throughout his lengthy career.
His better-known films include I Was Monty's Double (1958), Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959), Never Let Go (1960), Tarzan Goes to India (1962), Waltz of the Toreadors (1962), The Blue Max (1966), The Bridge at Remagen (1969), The Towering Inferno (1974), King Kong (1976), Death on the Nile (1978), Sheena (1984) and King Kong Lives (1986). In the 1980s, he worked on much less prestigious projects, and his final films consisted of lower-budgeted theatrical releases and TV movies.
According to one obituary, "Regardless of whether he was directing a light comedy, war epic or crime drama, Mr. Guillermin had a reputation as an intense, temperamental perfectionist, notorious for screaming at cast and crew alike. His domineering manner often alienated producers and actors...But Mr. Guillermin's impeccable eye and ability to capture both intimate moments and large-scale action scenes usually overcame that reputation."
Yvon Jean Guillermin was born in London on 11 November 1925. His parents, Joseph and Geneviève, were French. His father worked in the perfume industry. Guillermin remarked in a 1976 interview "I have a British passport but actually I'm a bloody Frog." He grew up in Purley, Surrey ("one of those towns you drive through and never stop at on your way to the coast"), where he attended St Anne's School for Boys. Later he studied at St John's Secondary School For Boys, then for three years at the City of London School.
Guillermin joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 at the age of 17, lying about his age. This involved studying for six months at the University of Cambridge; when he was 18, he became a British citizen. He also studied flying at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. "The war basically saved me," he said later. "It got me away from my mother."
Guillermin wanted to be a director since he had seen Treasure Island at the cinema when he was seven. After mustering out of the Royal Air Force at the age of 22, Guillermin's directorial career began in France with documentary filmmaking, some of which was for the perfume company his father worked for. According to a critical review of Guillermin's work, "One of his stylistic constants, an expert use of handheld camera to add grit and muscle to key scenes, may be rooted in those early efforts, and they function as counterweights to Guillermin's penchant for forceful lines, a very plastic sense of interior spaces, and use of overhead shots...Guillermin's interest in conveying how people and spaces relate to one another and how decisions are reached and carried out suggests a spark to his filmmaking that one might call Griersonian even if the grandfather of British documentary focused on social development and progress as opposed to collapse."
In 1948, Guillermin moved back to London. With Robert Jordan Hill he set up a small production company, Advent Films. Together they made Bless 'Em All (1948) which Guillermin helped produce; it was directed by Hill and featured Max Bygraves in his film debut. Guillermin and Hill then wrote and produced two films starring the cockney character actor Ben Wrigley: Melody in the Dark (1949), directed by Hill, and High Jinks in Society (1949), directed by Hill and Guillermin. Both films were distributed by Adelphi Pictures for whom Guillermin would write and direct Torment (1950), a thriller. He went to Hollywood in 1950 to study film-making methods.
Guillermin made several movies for the low-budget Vandyke Productions, a company run by Nigel and Roger Proudlock. Two were based on scripts by Alec Coppel, Smart Alec (1951), a thriller starring Peter Reynolds, and Two on the Tiles (1951), a comedy. Also for Vandyke, Guillermin directed Four Days (1951), a thriller with Reynolds, and Song of Paris (1952), a comedy with Dennis Price. Guillermin received an offer from the short-lived Group 3 Films to make Miss Robin Hood (1952), a comedy starring Margaret Rutherford. Back at Vandyke, he codirected Strange Stories (1953) with Don Chaffey. He made episodes of the TV series Your Favorite Story (1953).