1. Michael Latham Powell was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger.
21 Facts About Michael Powell
1. 2.
Michael Powell's controversial Peeping Tom, which was so vilified on first release that it seriously damaged his career, is considered a classic, and possibly the earliest "slasher movie".
3.
Michael Powell was the second son and youngest child of Thomas William Michael Powell, a hop farmer, and Mabel, daughter of Frederick Corbett, of Worcester, England.
4.
Michael Powell was born in Bekesbourne, Kent, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury and then at Dulwich College.
5.
Michael Powell started work at the National Provincial Bank in 1922 but quickly realised he was not cut out to be a banker.
6.
Michael Powell entered the film industry in 1925 through working with director Rex Ingram at the Victorine Studios in Nice, France.
7.
Michael Powell first started out as a general studio hand, the proverbial "gofer": sweeping the floor, making coffee, fetching and carrying.
8.
Michael Powell made his film debut as a "comic English tourist" in The Magician.
9.
Michael Powell signed on in a similar role on Hitchcock's first "talkie", Blackmail.
10.
From 1931 to 1936, Michael Powell was the director of 23 films, including the critically received Red Ensign and The Phantom Light.
11.
In 1937 Michael Powell completed his first truly personal project, The Edge of the World.
12.
Michael Powell gathered together a cast and crew who were willing to take part in an expedition to what was then a very isolated part of the UK.
13.
Nonetheless, Michael Powell was brought in to save a film that was being made as a vehicle for two of Korda's star players, Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson.
14.
The film was The Spy in Black, during pre-production of which Michael Powell first met Emeric Pressburger in 1939.
15.
Michael Powell had stood Storer Clouston's plot on its head and completely restructured the film.
16.
In 1982, Francis Ford Coppola invited Michael Powell to be 'senior director in residence' at his Zoetrope Studios.
17.
Michael Powell's films came to have a cult reputation, broadened during the 1970s and early 1980s by a series of retrospectives and rediscoveries, as well as further articles and books.
18.
In 1927 Michael Powell married Gloria Mary Rouger, an American dancer; they were married in France and stayed together for only three weeks.
19.
Michael Powell lived with actress Pamela Brown for many years until her death from cancer in 1975.
20.
Michael Powell was introduced to film editor Thelma Schoonmaker by Martin Scorsese and London-based film producer Frixos Constantine.
21.
Michael Powell's niece was the Australian actress Cornelia Frances, who appeared in bit parts in her uncle's early films.