HARRY ALAN TOWERSHarry Alan Towers, who died on 31 July, 2009, was an idiosyncratic producer and writer of films noted for both eccentricity and longevity.
His career began making radio programmes in the 1940s and he was still working on new projects at the time of his death aged 88.
Born in London on 19 October, 1920, Harry Alan Towers acted as a child due to the theatrical connections of his parents. During the Second World War he began writing for the radio while serving with the RAF.
After the war he founded a radio distribution company, Towers of London, with his mother Margaret. He began to producer radio crime dramas starring the likes of Orson Welles, Clive Brook, Michael Redgrave and John Gielgud.
He moved into television and made series rich in intrigue such as The Scarlet Pimpernel (1956) and Tales from Dickens (1958-59). Moving into films, he continued to be associated with mysteries, most notably adaptations of Agatha Christie’s books. He also produced a series of films starring Christopher Lee as the villainous Fu Manchu.
He continued to work within the horror and mystery genres for most of his career and was increasingly associated with salacious titillation of the senses. He was also linked to a number of real-life scandals and affairs by the press.
He worked on more than 100 television and film projects and was most recently collaborating with Ken Russell and Steven Berkoff on an erotically charged version of Moll Flanders.
Among his film-making escapades, Mr Towers could list trying to shoot two films about Ernest Hemingway – both starring Martin Sheen – at the same time and inviting mayors Ken Livingstone and Michael Bloomberg to make cameo appearances in his New York cop drama West End Central.
He died after a short illness in hospital in Canada.
Keep me informed of updates
