Cecil Hepworth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1874-03-19)19 March 1874 |
| Died | 9 February 1953(1953-02-09) (aged 78) |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, film producer |
| Years active | 1896–1926 |
Cecil Milton Hepworth (19 March 1874 – 9 February 1953) was a Britishfilm director,producer andscreenwriter. He was among the founders of theBritish film industry and continued making films into the 1920s at hisHepworth Studios. In 1923 his companyHepworth Picture Plays went intoreceivership.
His works includeAlice in Wonderland (1903), the first film adaptation ofLewis Carroll's children's bookAlice's Adventures in Wonderland.[2]
Hepworth was born inLambeth, in present-daySouth London. His father, Thomas Cradock Hepworth, was a famousmagic lantern showman and author. Cecil Hepworth became involved in the early stages of British filmmaking, working for bothBirt Acres andCharles Urban, and wrote the first British book on the subject in 1897. With his cousin Monty Wicks he set up the production company Hepworth and Co. (also known as "Hepwix" after the word mark in its trade logo), which was later renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company (officially: Hepworth Film Manufacturing Company), and thenHepworth Picture Plays. In 1899 they built a smallfilm studio inWalton-on-Thames,Hepworth Studios. The company produced about three films a week, sometimes with Hepworth directing. He was associated withPercy Stow from 1901-1903 who specialized in trick films.[3]
His filmRescued by Rover (1905), co-directed with Lewin Fitzhamon and starring acollie in the title role, was a huge financial success. The film is now regarded as an important development infilm grammar, with shots being effectively combined to emphasize the action. Hepworth was also one of the first to recognize the potential offilm stars, both animal and human, with several recurring characters appearing in his films.
By 1910, Hepworth was also the inventor of Vivaphone, an early sound on disk system for adding sound to motion pictures. The device used phonograph records to record and play back the sound. Hepworth's Vivaphone was distributed in Britain and also in the United States and Canada.[4][5]
The company continued making popular films into the 1920s, despite Hepworth's now unchanging and increasingly old-fashioned film style. Boosted by the international success ofAlf's Button (1919), the company wentpublic to fund a large studio development. He failed to raise the necessary capital and, also suffering the box office failure ofComin' Thro the Rye (1923), the company went intoreceivership the next year. All of the original film negatives in Hepworth's possession were melted down by the receiver in order to sell the silver, and his feature films have been consideredlost for many decades. However, an original 35mm. print of his 1920 filmHelen of Four Gates was located in a film archive inMontreal, Quebec,Canada in 2008.[6]
TheCecil Hepworth Playhouse in Walton-on-Thames is named after him.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
