1. Guy Hamilton directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films.
21 Facts About Guy Hamilton
1. 2.
Guy Hamilton's mother was a great-granddaughter of the Christian campaigner Sir Culling Eardley, 3rd Baronet, and of the politician Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe.
3.
Guy Hamilton's parents divorced in 1923, and Hamilton attended school in England.
4.
Guy Hamilton's first exposure to the film industry came in 1938, when he was a clapperboard boy at the Victorine Studios in Nice.
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At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Hamilton escaped from France by the MV Saltersgate, a collier bound for French North Africa; one of the other 500 refugees aboard was W Somerset Maugham.
6.
Guy Hamilton worked on They Made Me a Fugitive, Mine Own Executioner, Anna Karenina, and The Fallen Idol directed by Carol Reed.
7.
Guy Hamilton assisted on Britannia Mews, a 20th Century Fox film shot in England, directed by Jean Negulesco; was reunited with Reed on The Third Man, in which Guy Hamilton doubled for Orson Welles in a couple of shots; The Angel with the Trumpet, State Secret for Sidney Gilliat; Outcast of the Islands for Reed; The African Queen for John Huston; and Home at Seven for Ralph Richardson.
8.
Guy Hamilton followed it with an adaptation of An Inspector Calls.
9.
Guy Hamilton tried a musical with Max Bygraves, Charley Moon and an adventure film which he co wrote with Foxwell, Manuela.
10.
Guy Hamilton had his first experience with larger-budget films towards the end of the decade, when he replaced the sacked Alexander Mackendrick on the set of The Devil's Disciple featuring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster.
11.
Guy Hamilton turned down an offer to direct Dr No, the first James Bond film.
12.
The film was heavily censored and, in protest, Guy Hamilton asked for his name to be removed when the film was finally released.
13.
Guy Hamilton directed Man in the Middle with Robert Mitchum.
14.
Guy Hamilton followed with his first James Bond film, Goldfinger.
15.
Guy Hamilton returned to the Bond film franchise with the chase- and gadget-dependent Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun.
16.
Guy Hamilton claimed in a much later interview that he had instructed Roger Moore not to mimic Sean Connery's rendition of James Bond and said the only Bond he regretted making was Golden Gun.
17.
Guy Hamilton was later asked to direct For Your Eyes Only but declined because the cash-strapped United Artists could not afford his salary.
18.
Guy Hamilton was originally chosen to direct Superman: The Movie, but due to his status as a tax exile, he was allowed to be in England for only thirty days a year, where production had moved at the last minute to Pinewood Studios.
19.
The job of director was then passed to Richard Donner, but Guy Hamilton insisted that he be paid in full.
20.
Guy Hamilton directed only two more films in the 1980s before entering retirement.
21.
Guy Hamilton was married twice, first to Naomi Chance in 1953, and then to the actress Kerima in 1964, many years after they first met during the filming of Outcast of the Islands.