Jack Clayton
Encyclopedia
Jack Clayton was a British
film director
who specialised in bringing literary works to the screen.
, Clayton started his career as a child actor
on the 1929 film Dark Red Roses. He later worked for Alexander Korda
's Denham Film Studios
and rose from tea boy to assistant director to film editor.
While in service with the Royal Air Force
during World War II
, Clayton shot his first film, the documentary
Naples is a Battlefield (1944), representing the problems in the reconstruction of Naples
, the first great city liberated in World War II, ruined after Allied bombing and destruction caused by the retreating Nazis. After the war Clayton became an associate producer on many of Korda's films, then directed the Oscar
-winning short The Bespoke Overcoat
(1956) based on Wolf Mankowitz
's theatrical version (1953) of Nikolai Gogol
's short story The Overcoat
(1842). In this film Gogol's story is re-located to a clothing warehouse in the East End of London
and the ghostly protagonist is a poor Jew.
His first feature was the internationally acclaimed Room at the Top (1959), a harsh indictment of the British class system, which won two Oscars
, earned Clayton a Best Director nomination, and was credited with spearheading Britain's movement toward realism
in films; in fact that film inaugurated a series of realist films known as the British New Wave, which featured for that time, unusually sincere treatments of sexual mores and introduced a new maturity into British cinema.
Clayton followed with the ghost story The Innocents (1961), based on Henry James
The Turn of the Screw
, then lay back for several years, establishing a pattern he followed thereafter.
He directed The Pumpkin Eater
(1964), Our Mother's House
(1967), and then, seven years later, the high-profile American production of F. Scott Fitzgerald
's The Great Gatsby
(1974). But it did not fare well with the critics.
Perhaps in response to its failure, he did not take another assignment for nine years. He filmed Ray Bradbury
's Something Wicked This Way Comes
(1983), the Disney studio production, which fitted more closely with the ideas he had explored earlier, especially in the sense of the exposure of children to evil. But the finished film was a compromise between Disney's insistence on a more commercial version and the original vision of the director. Although the film was well received by critics, it was another disappointment for Clayton.
His last feature film, the British-made The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
(1987), featured Maggie Smith
as a spinster
who struggles with the emptiness of her life; it won Clayton critical plaudits for the first time in many years. He worked with Smith again in 1992 for a television film Memento Mori
, based on the novel by Muriel Spark
, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay. Like previous ones, that film expressed quietly moving meditations on disappointment and aging.
". He was married to the Israel
i actress Haya Harareet
until his death.
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...
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:...
who specialised in bringing literary works to the screen.
Career
A native of East SussexEast Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, Clayton started his career as a child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
on the 1929 film Dark Red Roses. He later worked for Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
's Denham Film Studios
Denham Film Studios
Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952.The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood...
and rose from tea boy to assistant director to film editor.
While in service with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Clayton shot his first film, the documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
Naples is a Battlefield (1944), representing the problems in the reconstruction of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, the first great city liberated in World War II, ruined after Allied bombing and destruction caused by the retreating Nazis. After the war Clayton became an associate producer on many of Korda's films, then directed the Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning short The Bespoke Overcoat
The Bespoke Overcoat
The Bespoke Overcoat is a British short film directed by Jack Clayton, based on a 1953 play of the same name by Wolf Mankowitz. The story is an adaptation of Gogol's short story The Overcoat with the action relocated from Russia to the East End of London. In this version the protagonists are poor...
(1956) based on Wolf Mankowitz
Wolf Mankowitz
Cyril Wolf Mankowitz was an English writer, playwright and screenwriter of Russian Jewish descent.-Early life:...
's theatrical version (1953) of Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's short story The Overcoat
The Overcoat
"The Overcoat" is the title of a short story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, thus spawning Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous quote: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." The story has been...
(1842). In this film Gogol's story is re-located to a clothing warehouse in the East End of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the ghostly protagonist is a poor Jew.
His first feature was the internationally acclaimed Room at the Top (1959), a harsh indictment of the British class system, which won two Oscars
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, earned Clayton a Best Director nomination, and was credited with spearheading Britain's movement toward realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
in films; in fact that film inaugurated a series of realist films known as the British New Wave, which featured for that time, unusually sincere treatments of sexual mores and introduced a new maturity into British cinema.
Clayton followed with the ghost story The Innocents (1961), based on Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
, then lay back for several years, establishing a pattern he followed thereafter.
He directed The Pumpkin Eater
The Pumpkin Eater
The Pumpkin Eater is a 1964 British drama film starring Anne Bancroft as an unusually fertile woman and Peter Finch as her philandering husband....
(1964), Our Mother's House
Our Mother's House
Our Mother's House is a 1967 British drama film starring Dirk Bogarde. The screenplay was by Jeremy Brooks, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Julian Gloag.-Plot:...
(1967), and then, seven years later, the high-profile American production of F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
(1974). But it did not fare well with the critics.
Perhaps in response to its failure, he did not take another assignment for nine years. He filmed Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's Something Wicked This Way Comes
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983 film)
Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 1983 film based on the Ray Bradbury novel of the same name, starring Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce. Directed by Jack Clayton from a screenplay written by Bradbury himself, the movie suffered from offscreen conflicts of vision...
(1983), the Disney studio production, which fitted more closely with the ideas he had explored earlier, especially in the sense of the exposure of children to evil. But the finished film was a compromise between Disney's insistence on a more commercial version and the original vision of the director. Although the film was well received by critics, it was another disappointment for Clayton.
His last feature film, the British-made The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 drama film made by Handmade Films Ltd. and United British Artists starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by Richard Johnson and Peter Nelson with George Harrison and Denis O'Brien as executive producers...
(1987), featured Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
as a spinster
Spinster
A spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
who struggles with the emptiness of her life; it won Clayton critical plaudits for the first time in many years. He worked with Smith again in 1992 for a television film Memento Mori
Memento mori
Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality...
, based on the novel by Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark
Dame Muriel Spark, DBE was an award-winning Scottish novelist. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Early life:...
, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay. Like previous ones, that film expressed quietly moving meditations on disappointment and aging.
Personal life
When asked his religion, he replied: "ex-CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
". He was married to the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i actress Haya Harareet
Haya Harareet
Haya Harareet , sometimes credited as Haya Hararit, is an Israeli actress.Harareet began her career in Israeli films with Hill 24 Doesn't Answer , but her most widely seen performance in international cinema was as Esther in Ben Hur opposite Charlton Heston. She also starred in Edgar G. Ulmer's...
until his death.