Michael Winner | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Winner in 2010 | |
| Born | Michael Robert Winner (1935-10-30)30 October 1935 Hampstead, London, England |
| Died | 21 January 2013(2013-01-21) (aged 77) Kensington, London, England |
| Resting place | Willesden Jewish Cemetery |
| Other names | Arnold Crust |
| Alma mater | Downing College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Film director andproducer,screenwriter,film editor,food writer,media personality |
| Years active | 1955–2013 |
| Spouse | |
Michael Robert Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was aBritishfilmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerousaction,thriller, andblack comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several collaborations with actorsOliver Reed andCharles Bronson.[1][2]
Winner's best-known works includeDeath Wish (1974) and its first two sequelsDeath Wish II (1982) andDeath Wish 3 (1985), the World War II comedyHannibal Brooks (1969), the hitman thrillerThe Mechanic (1972), the supernatural horror filmThe Sentinel (1977), the neo-noirThe Big Sleep (1978), the satirical comedyWon Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), and theRevisionist WesternsLawman (1971) andChato's Land (1972).
Winner was known as a media personality in the United Kingdom, appearing regularly on television talk programmes and publishing a restaurant review column forThe Sunday Times. He was also a founder of thePolice Memorial Trust.
Winner was born at 40 Belsize Grove,Belsize Park,Hampstead, London, the only child[3] of Jewish parents[4] George Joseph Winner (1910–1975), ofRussian-Jewish origin, and Helen (née Zlota; January 1906 – May 1984), who was born in Poland.[5] His mother had emigrated to the UK in 1932 with her parents and a brother,[6] and later anglicised her name from ‘Chana Rosa’ to ‘Helen Rose’.[7] His father - who was aFreemason and belonged to the same Masonic Lodge asTommy Cooper[8] - was a businessman and company director responsible for running a branch of the Winner's clothing chain founded by his father, who became a naturalised British citizen in 1910.[9][10][11][12] His mother died at the age of 78, in 1984.[13]
Winner was educated atSt Christopher School,Letchworth, andDowning College, Cambridge, where he read law and economics. He also edited the university's student newspaper,Varsity, and was the youngest ever editor up to that time, both in age and in terms of his university career (being only in the second term of his second year). Winner had earlier written a newspaper column, "Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip", in theKensington Post from the age of fourteen. The first issue ofShowgirl Glamour Revue in 1955 had him writing another film and show-business gossip column, "Winner's World".[14] Such jobs allowed him to meet and interview several leading film personalities, includingJames Stewart andMarlene Dietrich. He also wrote for theNew Musical Express.[15]
Winner claimed in his memoirs that he avoidedNational Service by pretending to be gay.[16][17]
Winner directed his first travelogue,This is Belgium (1957), which was largely shot on location inEast Grinstead. It was financed by his father.[3][18] Later, he wrote, produced and directed a short,The Square (1957), starringA. E. Matthews, and which again was financed by Winner's father.
Winner's first on-screen feature credit was earned as a writer for the low-budget crime filmMan with a Gun (1958) directed byMontgomery Tully.[19] He went on to direct the shortsDanger, Women at Work (1959) andWatch the Birdie (1959), and was Associate Producer onFloating Fortress (1959), produced byHarold Baim.
Winner's first feature as director wasShoot to Kill (1960), which he also wrote.Dermot Walsh starred.[20] He followed this withClimb Up the Wall (1960), which was essentially a series of music acts presented byJack Jackson, but which Winner nonetheless wrote and directed.[21]
Winner's third feature as director was the thrillerMurder on the Campus (1961), also known asOut of the Shadow, which Winner also wrote and helped produce. Dermot Walsh starred once again, together withTerence Longdon.[22] Shortly afterwards, Winner wrote and directed the shortGirls Girls Girls! (1961) which was narrated by Jackson, and directed the short featureOld Mac (1961), written by Richard Aubrey and starringCharles Lamb, Vi Stevens andTania Mallet.[23][24]
Winner directed the shortsHaunted England (1961),It's Magic (1962), andBehave Yourself (1962), the latter of which was based onEmily Post'sBook of Manners, and whose cast included Jackson andDennis Price.
Winner achieved success with a musical he directed,Play It Cool (1962), starringBilly Fury andMichael Anderson Jr., and which was distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated.[25][26]
Winner's next feature,Some Like It Cool (1962), is the tale of a young woman who introduces her prudish husband and in-laws to the joys of nudism. Filmed atLongleat, Winner was afraid the sight of bare flesh would offend the magistrate for the area, so he confided his worries to the landowner, theMarquess of Bath. 'Don't worry,' said the Marquess, 'I am the local magistrate.' The film cost £9,000 and Winner said it made its money back in a week.[18]
Winner went on to updateGilbert and Sullivan, writing the screenplay and directing a version ofThe Mikado titledThe Cool Mikado (1963), starringFrankie Howerd andStubby Kaye and which was produced byHarold Baim.[27]
Winner's first significant project wasWest 11 (1963), a realistic tale of London drifters starringAlfred Lynch,Eric Portman andDiana Dors, and which was based on an adaptation byHall and Waterhouse ofLaura Del-Rivo's novelThe Furnished Room (1961).[28]
Winner's filmThe System (1964), also known asThe Girl-Getters, began a partnership with actorOliver Reed that would last for six films over a 25-year period, and was based on a script by Peter Draper. Winner would later receive an offer from Columbia to direct a comedy,You Must Be Joking! (1965). It starred American actorMichael Callan and a supporting cast that includedLionel Jeffries andDenholm Elliott, while Winner also wrote the script.
Winner was reunited with Reed onThe Jokers (1967), a comedy where Reed was teamed withMichael Crawford. It was based on a script byDick Clement andIan La Frenais from a story by Winner for his own company, Scimitar Films Limited (for Universal's English operations, then underJay Kanter). The resulting movie was a popular hit.[29]
Winner and Reed then made the comedy-dramaI'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), co-starringOrson Welles,Carol White andHarry Andrews, also for Scimitar. Draper wrote the script, which was a spoof of the advertising world, and the film was also done for Universal.[30][31]
Winner did some uncredited directing onA Little of What You Fancy (1967), a documentary about the history of the British music hall. Then he and Reed made their fourth feature together, the World War II satireHannibal Brooks (1969), again from a Clement/La Frenais script and based on a story by Winner.[32][33]
In 1970, Winner directedThe Games for20th Century Fox, the film is about theOlympic Games and which starredRyan O'Neal andStanley Baker, with script byEric Segal.[34]
Hannibal Brooks drew notice in Hollywood, and Winner soon received an opportunity to direct his first American film, forUnited Artists; this wasLawman (1971), a Western starringBurt Lancaster andRobert Duvall, and for which Gerald Wilson was the writer.
Back in England, Winner directedMarlon Brando inThe Nightcomers (1971), a prequel toThe Turn of the Screw byHenry James, the first of many films for which Winner was credited as editor using the pseudonym 'Arnold Crust'.
Winner edited, produced and directedChato's Land (1972), recounting a mixed race native American fighting with white people. It starredCharles Bronson and was made for Scimitar through United Artists. Once more, Gerald Wilson wrote the script. Winner's second film for Bronson and United Artists wasThe Mechanic (1972), a thriller in which professional assassins are depicted. It was based on a story and script byLewis John Carlino and Winner also edited, although he did not produce; he replacedMonte Hellman as director.
The following year, Winner cast Lancaster again in the espionage dramaScorpio (1973), co-starringAlain Delon and made for Scimitar and United Artists. Winner also produced and directed a third film with Bronson,The Stone Killer (1973), for Columbia and in collaboration with producerDino De Laurentiis.
Winner and Bronson collaborated onDeath Wish (1974), a film that defined the subsequent careers of both men. Based on a novel byBrian Garfield and adapted for the screen byWendell Mayes,Death Wish was originally planned for directorSidney Lumet, under contract withUnited Artists. The commitment of Lumet to another film and UA's questioning of its subject matter, led to the film's eventual production by De Laurentiis throughParamount Pictures.Death Wish followsPaul Kersey, a liberal New York architect who becomes a gun-wielding vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter is raped. With a script adjusted to Bronson's persona, the film generated controversy during its screenings but was one of the year's highest grossers.
Winner tried to break out of action films withWon Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), an animal comedy Winner produced and directed, starringBruce Dern,Madeline Kahn,Art Carney, andMilton Berle. Intended as a satire of Hollywood, it was a financial failure.[3][35] Of modest success was his horror filmThe Sentinel (1977), which Winner wrote, produced and directed for Universal, and which was based on the novel byJeffrey Konvitz.
Winner then wrote, produced and directed the remake of Raymond Chandler's novelThe Big Sleep (1978), starringRobert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe with a strong support cast including John Mills, Sarah Miles, Richard Boone and Candy Clarke. The film was relocated to England, and financed byITC Films. Also for ITC, Winner produced, edited and directed the organised crime thrillerFirepower (1979). It was meant to star Bronson, who withdrew, and wound up starringSophia Loren andJames Coburn.[36]
By the early 1980s, Winner found himself in great need of a successful film and acceptedCharles Bronson's request to filmDeath Wish II (1981), a sequel to the 1974 hit. Bronson had already signed a lucrative deal withCannon Films, independent producer of exploitation fare and marginal art house titles. The sequel, co-starring Bronson's wifeJill Ireland, considerably increased the violence to more graphic levels. Winner said the film was 'the same, but different', to the original. 'That's what sequels are –Rocky II,Rocky III – you don't seeSylvester Stallone move to theCongo and become a nurse. Here the look of LA is what's different. Besides – rape doesn't date!'[37]Death Wish II made a $2 million profit for Cannon films[38] and made an extra $29 million worldwide.
The success ofDeath Wish II enabled Winner to raise money from Cannon for a dream project: a 1983remake of 1945'sThe Wicked Lady, this time starringFaye Dunaway and which Winner wrote, produced and directed.[39]
For Miracle Films, Winner produced and directed the thrillerScream for Help (1984). He also produced the filmClaudia (1985), doing some uncredited directing and editing.
Winner was reunited with Bronson and Cannon forDeath Wish 3 (1985), which – although set in New York City – was mostly filmed in London for budgetary reasons. Winner produced and edited."[40]
Winner was also attached to direct Cannon's 1990 filmCaptain America, from a script by James Silke, which he would revise with Stan Hey, and thenStan Lee and Lawrence Block.[41] By 1987, however, Winner was off the project.
Winner's final film for Cannon was an adaptation of theAgatha Christie novelAppointment with Death (1989) starringPeter Ustinov as Poirot. Winner produced, edited and directed; but despite a strong support cast includingLauren Bacall andCarrie Fisher, the film flopped.[42]
After Cannon Films entered bankruptcy, Winner confined himself to British productions. He produced and directed an adaptation of theAlan Ayckbourn musical playA Chorus of Disapproval (1989) withAnthony Hopkins, and also wrote the script with Ayckbourn.
Winner produced, directed and edited theMichael Caine andRoger Moore farceBullseye! (1990), based on a story by Winner.[43] The film's reception was generally poor, with the film being described as "appallingly unfunny" inTheRadio Times Guide to Films.[44] Later, he wrote, produced and directedDirty Weekend (1993), starring Lia Williams; and hosted the television seriesTrue Crimes, which was cancelled in 1994.[45]
In 1994, Winner appeared as a guest artist – alongsideJoan Collins,Christopher Biggins andMarc Sinden (who in 1983 had appeared in Winner'sThe Wicked Lady) – inSteven Berkoff's film version of his own playDecadence.
Winner's final film as director wasParting Shots (1999), which he also wrote, produced and edited. The film was critically reviled and flopped commercially.[46]
Winner was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4'sAny Questions, and later appeared on television programmes includingBBC1'sQuestion Time andBBC2'sHave I Got News for You. He was also an occasional columnist for theDaily Mail throughout the 2000s, and an honorary member ofBAFTA and of theDirectors Guild of Great Britain. His autobiographyWinner Takes All: A Life of Sorts was published by Robson Books in 2006, it largely describes his experiences with many big-screen actors. Winner also wrote a dieting book,The Fat Pig Diet Book.
Winner also featured in televisioncommercials that he himself directed for insurance companyesure between 2002 and 2009, with his trademarkcatchphrase "Calm down, dear! It's just a commercial!".
He was the subject ofThis Is Your Life in 2001 when he was surprised byMichael Aspel while dining with friends at a central London restaurant.[citation needed]
Winner appeared in the first series ofThe Apprentice (UK). He agreed to participate in a charity auction, offering dinner for four and two bottles of house wine at "London's most difficult restaurant to get in,"The Ivy. The experience sold for £2,600.
Winner became engaged to Geraldine Lynton-Edwards in 2007. They had met in 1957, when he was a 21-year-old filmmaker and she was a 16-year-old actress and ballet dancer. They married on 19 September 2011[47] atChelsea Town Hall, London.[citation needed]Michael andShakira Caine were witnesses to the ceremony.[citation needed]
Winner lived in the former home of painterLuke Fildes in Holland Park,Woodland House, designed for Fildes byRichard Norman Shaw.[48][49] It was announced in 2008 that Winner intended to leave his house as a museum, but discussions withKensington and Chelsea council apparently stalled after they were unable to meet the £15 million cost of purchasing thefreehold of the property, the lease of which expires in 2046.[citation needed]
On 1 January 2007, Winner acquired the bacterial infectionVibrio vulnificus from eating an oyster in Barbados. He almost had a leg amputated and was on the brink of death several times. Before recovering, Winner was infected with the 'hospital superbug'MRSA.[50] In September 2011, he was admitted to hospital with food poisoning after eatingsteak tartare, a raw meat dish, four days in a row. The dish is not recommended for those with a weak immune system, and in retrospect Winner regarded his decision to eat it as "stupid".[51]
Winner established thePolice Memorial Trust afterWPCYvonne Fletcher was murdered in 1984. Thirty-six local memorials honouring police officers who died in the line of duty, have been erected since 1985, beginning with that of Fletcher inSt. James's Square, London. TheNational Police Memorial, oppositeSt. James's Park at the junction of Horse Guards Road and The Mall, was also unveiled by QueenElizabeth II on 26 April 2005.[52]
In 2006, it was reported that Winner had been offered, but declined, anOBE in theQueen's Birthday Honours for his part in campaigning for the Police Memorial Trust. Winner remarked: "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well atKing's Cross station."[53] Winner subsequently alleged (on hisTwitter page) that he had also turned down a knighthood.[3]
Winner wrote his column, "Winner's Dinners", inThe Sunday Times for more than twenty years.[54] On 2 December 2012, he announced that he was to contribute his last review because of poor health, which had put him in hospital eight times in the previous seven months.[55] His fame as a restaurant critic was such that, at a Cornwall cafe, an unconsumed piece of his serving of lemon drizzle cake was incorporated into theMuseum of Celebrity Leftovers.[56]
Winner was an outspoken character.[57] He was a member of theConservative Party and supporter ofPrime MinisterMargaret Thatcher. Winner was praised for having liberal views on gay rights, in particular during an episode ofRichard Littlejohn Live and Uncut, where he attacked the presenter (who had been in the midst of an attack on two lesbian guests) for his stance on same-sex marriage and parenting, going so far as to say to him "The lesbians have come over with considerable dignity whereas you have come over as an arsehole."[58] After Winner's death, this moment was brought up many times in eulogies to him.[59][60][61]
In a 2009 interview withThe Daily Telegraph, Winner bemoaned political correctness, and said that if he was Prime Minister, he would be "to the right of Hitler". Following that he said "No immigration! Shoot anyone who commits a crime! Shoot people who park in the wrong place in front of my garage! I would be ferocious. And believe me, it's needed."[62]
Winner was an art collector, and a connoisseur of British illustration.[63] Winner's art collection includes works by Jan Micker,William James,Edmund Dulac,E. H. Shepard,Arthur Rackham,Kay Nielsen andBeatrix Potter.[63] His collection once included almost 200 signed colour-washed illustrations byDonald McGill.[63]
Winner spent his free time gardening ("my garden is floodlit, so I quite often garden after midnight") or with a string of girlfriends, notably the actressJenny Seagrove.[64] He claimed that his life had not altered in the past 40 years: "I do essentially the same things I did as an 18-year-old," he said. "I go on dates, I make films, I write. Nothing has really changed."[3]
In an interview withThe Times in October 2012, Winner said liver specialists had told him that he had between eighteen months and two years to live. He said he had researchedassisted suicide offered at theDignitas clinic in Switzerland, but found the bureaucracy of the process off-putting.[65] Winner died at his home,Woodland House inHolland Park, on 21 January 2013, aged 77, from liver disease.[66][67][68] Winner was buried following a traditional Jewish funeral atWillesden Jewish Cemetery.[69]
Several stunt men allege Winner was an abusive and dangerous director on film sets to his crew.[70]
In one instance, on the production ofDeath Wish 3,Rocky Taylor alleges Winner created a dangerous and deceptive work environment that led to him being severely injured during a stunt.[70] The moment called for Taylor to jump off a building and across a controlled blaze and into an arranged set of boxes. However, Taylor says Winner turned up the height of the flames while cameras rolled without consulting him. Taylor completed the stunt but missed the boxes by "about a foot," breaking his pelvis, back and receiving some burns. Taylor says Winner visited him in hospital with several newspaper photographers in tow, laid next to Taylor and whispered in his ear "don't think you can sue me, Rocky, because you can't get away with it." Taylor says the injury affected his career and "ruined my life."[70] He recreated and performed the stunt successfully 26 years later in 2011.[71]
In 2007, actressHelen Mirren alleged that she was sexually harassed by Winner in a casting session in 1964, which Winner denied.[72]
Following the allegations made againstHarvey Weinstein in October 2017, Winner was accused by three women,Debbie Arnold, Cindy Marshall-Day and an unidentified woman, of demanding they expose their breasts to him – in Arnold's case during an audition at his home. The two named women refused.[73] ActressMarina Sirtis, who was directed by Winner inThe Wicked Lady andDeath Wish 3, has implied she was mistreated by Winner, as reported byThe Stage in 2019:
When it comes to the dark side of film, TV and theatre's treatment of women, Sirtis is 'in awe of those young actresses' who have spoken out as part of the#MeToo and#TimesUp movements. She reveals she has been assaulted during her career. 'I went to see an agent here and he lifted up my dress', she says. 'And I know you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead', she adds, but she hopes that film director Michael Winner, who directed her inDeath Wish 3, will 'rot in hell for all eternity'.[74]
Olympia Dukakis, who played an uncredited role inDeath Wish, said in a February 2015A.V. Club interview that she was harassed by Winner during her audition.[75]
In her bookStar Trek: Open a Channel: A Woman's Trek,Nana Visitor describes being the target of abusive treatment by Winner on the set ofThe Sentinel. After the production wrapped, Visitor writes, Winner invited her to dinner and "sexually assaulted" her in his hotel room. Visitor chooses not to identify Winner by name in the text, but she specifies her character and the year, making it clear Winner was the director responsible.[76]
(from 1967 also producer)
Food writing
Memoirs
Miscellaneous
Film criticism
Film biographies
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