Sir Anthony Havelock-Allan
Born
Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan

(1904-02-28)28 February 1904
Darlington, County Durham, England
Died11 January 2003(2003-01-11) (aged 98)
London, England
Occupation(s)British film producer and screenwriter
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1939; div. 1952)​
    Sara Ruiz de Villafranca
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1979)​
    Children2 (including Mark)

    Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet (28 February 1904 – 11 January 2003) was a British film producer and screenwriter whose credits included This Happy Breed, Blithe Spirit, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet and Ryan's Daughter.

    Personal life and career

    Havelock-Allan was born at the family home of Blackwell Grange near Darlington, County Durham, and was educated at Charterhouse and schools in Switzerland. Before becoming a film producer, he worked as a stockbroker, jeweller, record company executive and cabaret manager.

    In 1935, Havelock-Allan joined the short-lived British and Dominions Imperial Studios, producing films with them like Lancashire Luck (1937) until and even shortly after the studios burnt down in 1936. After working with her on This Man in Paris, Havelock-Allan married actress Valerie Hobson on 12 April 1939. Their sons were Simon Anthony Clerveaux Havelock-Allan (1944–2001) and Sir Mark Havelock-Allan (born 4 April 1951). They divorced in 1952.

    Collaboration with David Lean and Ronald Neame

    Havelock-Allan served as associated producer on the 1942 war film In Which We Serve, which starred Noël Coward, who co-directed the picture with David Lean. The film was shot by cinematographer Ronald Neame, who along with Havelock-Allan and Lean, founded their own company, Cineguild. Cineguild's first production was a film adaptation of Coward's 1939 play This Happy Breed, which was produced by Coward, directed by Lean, and shot by Neame. All three partners — Havelock-Allan, Lean and Neame — collaborated on the script.

    The exact same combination of talents created the 1945 film adaptation of Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit. The quartet then produced the classic Brief Encounter, with Havelock-Allan and Neame sharing producing duties with Coward, with Coward helping write the script, an adaption of his 1936 one-act play Still Life. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival while lead Celia Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1947 awards. In 1999, Brief Encounter came in second in a British Film Institute poll of the top 100 British films.

    Havelock-Allan, Lean and Neame moved away from Coward and next filmed two classic by Charles Dickens, creating two classics of British cinema in the process. Both Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948) brought the three Oscar nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

    After Cineguild

    He left Cineguild and founded Constellation Films in 1947. He later co-founded British Home Entertainment with Lord Brabourne in 1960. He later was reunited with David Lean when he produced the great director's penultimate film, Ryan's Daughter (1970).

    Havelock-Allan married second wife María Teresa Consuelo Sara Ruiz de Villafranca known just as Sara Ruiz de Villafranca, a daughter of the former Spanish Ambassador to Chile and Brazil, on 26 June 1979.

    In 1975, he had succeeded to his childless brother's baronetcy and on his own death in 2003, aged 98, his title passed to his surviving son, Mark.

    Honours

    Academy Awards

    Year Award Title of work Result
    1947 Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Brief Encounter Nominated (with David Lean & Ronald Neame)
    1948 Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Great Expectations Nominated (with David Lean & Ronald Neame)
    1969 Best Motion Picture Romeo and Juliet Nominated (with John Brabourne)

    Hugo Awards

    Year Award Title of work Result
    1946 Best Dramatic Presentation Blithe Spirit Nominated (with Noël Coward, David Lean & Ronald Neame)

    Filmography

    All as producer, unless otherwise stated:

    References

    1. ↑ "From the Four Corners (1941)". BFI. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
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