Roy Ward Baker (1916 – 2010) had a sixty-year career but is perhaps less well known than should be the case. Working, initially as Roy Baker, he scouted locations and worked in production, learning his craft at Gainsborough Pictures including working as an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed. After World War Two service, partly with the Army Kinematograph Service, making training films at Wembley Park Studios, he resumed his career, moving up to become a director. He directed over 30 feature films. He worked mainly at Two Cities and Rank and then had a spell in Hollywood in the early 1950s with Twentieth Century Fox, including directing Don’t Bother To Knock, with Marilyn Monroe and Inferno. He returned to Britain direct such well-regarded films as The One That Got Away, Flame in the Streets and A Night To Remember. A hiatus in film led to a second successful career, in television, directing episodes of series such as The Avengers, Minder, Danger UXB, The Saint, The Persuaders, The Irish RM, The Flame Trees of Thika, Fairly Secret Army and many others. He is also known for some classic Hammer films, including Quatermass and the Pit, The Vampire Lovers, Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde as well as a number of Amicus portmanteau horror films. He also did some screenplay writing.
David Sharp.
