RONALD NEAMEBritish film-maker Ronald Neame aged 99 on 16 June, 2010.His biggest success came with the 1972 disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure, starring Gene Hackman.He gave Maggie Smith her Oscar-winning film break in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and directed Albert Finney in the Christmas classic Scrooge (1970).Other claims to fame included co-writing the screenplays of the Noel Coward adaptations Brief Encounter and Blithe Spirit (both 1945) and working with Alfred Hitchcock as a cameraman on the first British talkie, Blackmail (1929).His parents were the photographer Elwin Neame and the actress Ivy Close and it was through his mother’s connections that he entered the film industry, starting as a messenger boy.From the these humble beginnings he became a cinematographer, working prolifically through the 1930s and early ’40s.From there he graduated to directing, his first film being Take My Life (1947). He also produced a number of films, including the Dickens adaptations Great Expectations (1946) with John Mills and Oliver Twist (1948) with Alec Guinness.Other notable talent he worked with as director included Deborah Kerr in The Chalk Garden (1964), Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine in Gambit (1966) and host of talent including Peter Fonda, Natalie Wood and Sean Connery in Meteor (1979).Mr Neame died in LA after a fall.
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