Alexander Walker (critic)

Alexander Walker (born March 23, 1930 in Portadown , Northern Ireland , † July 15, 2003 ) was a British film critic and biographer .

Life

Walker studied politics and philosophy in Belfast and was initially a critic of the Birmingham Post and from 1960 until his death a critic of the London Evening Standard . In his role as "Nestor" British film critic, he was very influential in the film industry (he was also temporarily Governor of the British Film Institute ). He wrote a number of books, including on the making of the sound film and its effects ( The shattered silents ) and a history of British film in three volumes. He also wrote biographies of Elizabeth Taylor , Stanley Kubrick , Greta Garbo , Bette Davis , Peter Sellers , Audrey Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich, among others .

He received the British Press Award for best film critic three times .

Others

In his own words, his career as a critic began when his mother's glasses broke in a cinema in Belfast and he had to tell her the story.

After his death, he bequeathed his collection of prints and drawings by modern artists to the British Museum .

Fonts

• Double Takes - notes and afterthoughts on the movies 1956–1976, Elm Tree Books 1977
• His story of British film:
  • Hollywood UK - The British Film Industry in the 60s, New York, Stein and Day 1974
  • National Heros - British Cinema in the 70s and 80s, London, Harrap 1985
  • Icons in the Fire - the rise and fall of almost everybody in the british film industry 1984-2000, London, Orion Books 2004
• Stanley Kubrick - Life and Work, Henschel Verlag 1999 (English: Stanley Kubrick - Director, Norton 1999)
• Audrey - her real story, St. Martins Press 1995
• Bette Davis - a celebration, Applause Theater Books, New York 1998
• Dietrich, New York, Harper and Row 1984
• The Celluloid Sacrifice - aspects of sex in the movies, London, Joseph 1966
• Elizabeth - The Life of Elizabeth Taylor, Weidenfeld 1991
• Greta Garbo - a portrait, Droemer Knaur 1983, (English: Garbo - A portrait, Macmillan 1980)
• Fatal Charm - The Life of Rex Harrison, St. Martins Press 1993
• Joan Crawford - the ultimate star, Harper and Row 1983
• It's only a movie, Ingrid - encounters on and off the screen, London, Headline 1988
• Peter Sellers - the authorized biography, Weidenfeld and Nicholson 1981
• Vivien - The life of Vivien Leigh, Weidenfeld and Nicholson 1987
• Rudolph Valentino, Stein and Day 1976
• Shattered Silents - how the talkies came to stay, London, Elm Tree Books 1978, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, New York 1980
• Stanley Kubrick directs, New York, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich 1972
• Stardom - the Hollywood phenomenon, Stein and Day 1970

Web links

• Derek Malcolm: Alexander Walker - Outstanding and outspoken film critic and writer. In: The Guardian , July 16, 2003.
• Obituary from Jap Mees