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David Ian Gill (9 June 1928 – 28 September 1997) was a British filmhistorian, preservationist and documentarian who documented the history ofmotion pictures and helped restore many early, silent films.
He was born inPapua New Guinea, the son of Cecil Gill, amissionary doctor. His uncle was thesculptorEric Gill. The family returned to England in 1933 where Gill attended the Belmont Abbey School,Hereford.
Gill died at his home inHuntingdon, England, aged 69, after a heart attack.
Gill trained as a dancer and joined Britain'sSadler's Wells Theatre Ballet in 1946, appearing inThe Sleeping Princess, which opened inCovent Garden that year. In 1953, he married dancer Pauline Wadsworth, who later taught at TheRoyal Ballet School.
Gill leftballet in 1955 to work in television, producing his mime play,The Way of the Cross, for theBBC before joiningAssociated-Rediffusion as aneditor. As a result of that year's franchise changes, he moved toThames Television in 1968, working mainly onnews anddocumentaries for, amongst others, theToday andThis Week programmes.
Whilst at Thames, he metfilm historianKevin Brownlow, with whom he was to formPhotoplay Productions and work as co-director andproducer on severalsilent film-related projects. These included theHollywood (1980) series and a restoration ofAbel Gance's epicNapoléon, which was performed in 1980 at theEmpire, Leicester Square. Brownlow and Gill formed their own company,Photoplay Productions in 1990, in order to continue their restoration work and documentaries on silent cinema. Among the 25 films they restored areBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,The Phantom of the Opera,The Thief of Bagdad andThe Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Gill's unexpected death, in September 1997, came as he was planning a series of archival films on dance and working onNosferatu (1922), the 1997 entry in theChannel 4 Silents series, which was to take place at theRoyal Festival Hall later in the year.
His documentaries onVietnam,South Africa andNorthern Ireland were broadcast on the British seriesThis Week.
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