On 19 December 2016, we celebrate 100 years since the birth of Roy Ward Baker; the British filmmaker best known for his Golden Globe-winning Titanic drama, A Night to Remember.
Baker's career in the film industry began in 1934 as an apprentice at Gainsborough Pictures. By 1938, he had made quick progress through the studio ranks and served as assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. The outbreak of WWII the following year saw him enlist and he was eventually assigned to the Army Kinematograph Unit - one of his superiors during that time, the novelist Eric Ambler, would later give Baker his first feature directorial role with 1943's The October Man.
What followed was a globe-trotting and genre-hopping career that took in stops in London and LA, shoots with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Bette Davis, and stints in both film and television. During this period, Baker produced historical dramas, Hammer horrors and high camp westerns with equal surety.
Diverse in output but consistently interesting, we've picked out some highlights from a chameleonic career for your centenary celebrations.
Night To Remember, A
Harnessing his wartime documentary experience and teaming up with his Kinematograph colleague Eric Ambler, Baker's take on the Titanic narrative was one that prioritised historical accuracy, eschewed melodrama and honed in on the human detail of the tragedy. It remains his best remembered work and won the director the Samuel Goldwyn International Award at the Golden Globes in 1959.
Quatermass and the Pit
Following a sojourn in television work, Baker returned to the big screen with the third instalment in Nigel Kneale's Quatermass series. Quatermass and the Pit would be the first of many features that Baker made for Hammer Films and was his first credit using his mother's maiden name - Ward - as an additional identifier.
Vampire Lovers, The
An enduring fan favourite, this Hammer production was one of the most daring initial forays into the realms of lesbian vampirism. Adapting Sheridan Le Fanu's genre progenitor Carmilla, it represents a typically resourceful move from the studio to merge traditional vampire legends with contemporary appetites for sex and violence.
