Cy Endfield
Encyclopedia
Cyril Raker Endfield was an American screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, theatre director, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, magician and inventor, based in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 from 1953.

Biography

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...

, after attending Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, Endfield began his career as a theatre director and drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 coach, becoming an important figure in New York's progressive theatre scene. Despite this shared background, it was largely Endfield's skill as a card magician which brought him to the attention of Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

, who recruited him as an apprentice for Mercury Productions (at that time based at RKO Pictures). Following the debacle surrounding the production of The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons (film)
The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins...

(which ended with the expulsion of the Mercury team from the RKO lot) Endfield signed on as a contract director at MGM, directing a wide variety of shorts (including the last films in the long-running Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

series), before moving on to freelance on low-budget productions for Monogram
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...

 and independents.

It was with the 1950 film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 The Underworld Story
The Underworld Story
The Underworld Story is a 1950 American film noir starring Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, and Gale Storm. Howard Da Silva plays the loud-mouthed gangster Carl Durham, one of his last roles before becoming blacklisted....

, an independent production released through United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

, that Endfield first came to critical and studio attention. The film was a major leap from anything he had produced before in terms of budget and social commentary, a coruscating attack on press corruption which could equally be taken as a wider attack on the McCarthyite
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...

 ideology of the times. He followed this with the film often cited as his masterpiece, The Sound of Fury (aka Try And Get Me!), a lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...

 thriller based on a true story. It was with these two films that Endfield's signature approach to character developed, pessimistic without being uncompassionate.

In 1951 Endfield was named as a Communist at a HUAC hearing. Blacklisted
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...

 by the movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...

 bosses, he was unable to get work in Hollywood and moved to Britain where he wrote and directed films under various pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

s, often starring fellow blacklistees. In 1958, Endfield was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay for Hell Drivers
Hell Drivers (film)
Hell Drivers is a 1957 British film directed by Cy Endfield starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan and Sean Connery, produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions.-Plot:...

. In 1961 he made Mysterious Island
Mysterious Island (1961 film)
Mysterious Island is a 1961 film released by Morningside Productions. Based very loosely upon the novel The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. Directed by Cy Endfield, it was released through Columbia Pictures...

featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...

.

His best remembered film is Zulu
Zulu (film)
Zulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....

(1964). After a few more independent productions he withdrew from film direction in 1971, his final film being Universal Soldier
Universal Soldier (1971 film)
Universal Soldier is a 1971 film starring George Lazenby as a mercenary.The film had a £1,000,000 production budget. George Lazenby and his manager, Ronan O'Rahilly, financed the film and were the executive producers. The film was directed by controversial director Cy Endfield...

where he made a cameo appearance with Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....

. In 1979 he wrote the non-fiction book Zulu Dawn
Zulu Dawn
Zulu Dawn is a 1979 war film about the historical Battle of Isandlwana between British and Zulu forces in 1879 in South Africa. The screenplay was by Cy Endfield, from his book, and Anthony Story. The film was directed by Douglas Hickox...

, which tells the story of the British military campaign against the Zulu
Zulu Kingdom
The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....

 Nation in 1879. A film adaptation of the book was released in the same year, co-written by Endfield and directed by Douglas Hickox
Douglas Hickox
Douglas Hickox was an English film director. Hickox was born in London, where he was educated at Emanuel School. Hickox worked extensively as an assistant director and second unit director throughout the 50's and early 60's, making his first major picture in 1970...

.

Another accomplishment Endfield is credited, with Chris Rainey
Chris Rainey
Chris Rainey is an American football running back. He currently attends the University of Florida in his senior year.-External links:* *...

, is a pocket-sized/miniature computer with a chorded keypad that allows rapid typing without a bulky single-stroke keyboard. It functions like a musical instrument by pressing combinations of keys that he called a "Microwriter
Microwriter
The Microwriter is a hand-held portable word-processor with a chording keyboard. It was sold in the early 1980s by Microwriter Ltd, of London, UK...

" to generate a full alphanumeric character set. It is currently under further development, as "CyKey
CyKey
Chris Rainey re-introduced Microwriting for PC and Palm PDAs with a standalone miniature chording keyboard called CyKey, after co-inventing the Microwriter in the 1980s. The CyKey caters to both left and right-handed users, being 9-keys...

", for PC and Palm PDA, by Endfield's former partner, Chris Rainey
Chris Rainey
Chris Rainey is an American football running back. He currently attends the University of Florida in his senior year.-External links:* *...

 and Bellaire Electronics. CyKey
CyKey
Chris Rainey re-introduced Microwriting for PC and Palm PDAs with a standalone miniature chording keyboard called CyKey, after co-inventing the Microwriter in the 1980s. The CyKey caters to both left and right-handed users, being 9-keys...

 is named after Cy Endfield.

Endfield was also an accomplished magician and creator of card magic. British magician Michael Vincent credits Endfield as one of his biggest influences. Some of his creations in card magic were written up in the classic "Cy Endfield's Entertaining Card Magic" by Lewis Ganson.

Cy Endfield died in 1995 in Shipston-on-Stour
Shipston-on-Stour
Shipston-on-Stour is a town and civil parish on the River Stour about south of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. It is in the northern part of the Cotswolds, close to the boundaries with Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire....

, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, aged 80.

Selected filmography

  • The Argyle Secrets (1948)
  • The Sound of Fury (1950)
  • Tarzan's Savage Fury
    Tarzan's Savage Fury
    Tarzan's Savage Fury is a 1952 film starring Lex Barker as Tarzan, Dorothy Hart as Jane, and Patric Knowles. The movie was directed by Cy Endfield. While most Tarzan films of the 1930s, '40s and '50s presented Tarzan as a very different character from the one in Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels, this...

    (1952)
  • The Limping Man
    The Limping Man
    The Limping Man is a 1953 British film directed by Cy Endfield , starring American actor Lloyd Bridges and Cape Town born actress Moira Lister. The film was based on Anthony Verney's novel Death on the Tideway and was released in the U.S...

    (1953)
  • The Master Plan
    The Master Plan (film)
    The Master Plan is a 1955 British drama film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Norman Wooland, Tilda Thamar and Wayne Morris. It is set at the headquarters of NATO...

    (1955)
  • The Secret (1955)
  • Child in the House
    Child in the House
    Child in the House is a 1956 British drama film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Phyllis Calvert, Eric Portman and Stanley Baker. A girl struggles to cope with her uncaring relatives...

    (1956)
  • Impulse
    Impulse (1957 film)
    Impulse is a 1957 British crime film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Arthur Kennedy, Constance Smith and Joy Shelton.-Cast:* Arthur Kennedy - Alan Curtis* Constance Smith - Lila* Joy Shelton - Elizabeth Curtis* Jack Allen - Freddie...

    (1957)
  • Hell Drivers
    Hell Drivers (film)
    Hell Drivers is a 1957 British film directed by Cy Endfield starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan and Sean Connery, produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions.-Plot:...

    (1957)
  • Sea Fury
    Sea Fury (film)
    Sea Fury is a 1958 British action film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Stanley Baker, Victor McLaglen, Luciana Paluzzi and Grégoire Aslan...

    (1958)
  • Jet Storm
    Jet Storm
    Jet Storm is a 1959 British thriller film, where Richard Attenborough plays Ernest Tilley, a man who lost his daughter in a hit-and-run accident. He tracks down the man responsible for the accident and boards the same plane, threatening to blow up himself and everyone on board as an act of...

    (1959)
  • Mysterious Island
    Mysterious Island (1961 film)
    Mysterious Island is a 1961 film released by Morningside Productions. Based very loosely upon the novel The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. Directed by Cy Endfield, it was released through Columbia Pictures...

    (1961)
  • Zulu
    Zulu (film)
    Zulu is a 1964 historical war film depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War....

    (1964)
  • Hide and Seek (1964)
  • Sands of the Kalahari
    Sands of the Kalahari
    Sands of the Kalahari is a 1965 film British drama film starring Stuart Whitman, Stanley Baker, Susannah York, Harry Andrews and Theodore Bikel, based on the 1960 novel by William Mulvihill. The movie was written by Cy Endfield and William Mulvihill and directed by Cy Endfield...

    (1965)
  • De Sade
    De Sade (film)
    De Sade is an American-German 1969 drama film starring Keir Dullea and Senta Berger...

    (1969)
  • Universal Soldier
    Universal Soldier (1971 film)
    Universal Soldier is a 1971 film starring George Lazenby as a mercenary.The film had a £1,000,000 production budget. George Lazenby and his manager, Ronan O'Rahilly, financed the film and were the executive producers. The film was directed by controversial director Cy Endfield...

    (1971)

External links

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