Don Ashton
Donald Martin Ashton (born June 26, 1919 in Edmonton, Greater London , † August 25, 2004 in Compton Dundon, County Somerset ) was a British architect , film designer and set designer .
Film work
The son of a wine buyer attended Boxlane School in Palmers Green and began to study architecture before the outbreak of war in 1939. After his military service 1939-45, which he a. a. in the unit of Lord Mountbatten in the British colony Ceylon (today: Sri Lanka ), the Welsh actor, writer and director Emlyn Williams placed him on the film. Ashton began his career as a draftsman there in 1947 for productions by the Boulting brothers such as Fame is the Spur and Brighton Rock .
In 1949, Don Ashton was allowed to create his own film buildings for the first time as an architect, and since the early 1960s he has been involved in the creation of film sets as a production designer in a leading position. Ashton initially took part in a considerable number of B-productions, and since his participation in the world hit The Bridge on the Kwai , his film career has received a considerable boost.
For this war film classic, Ashton created a huge wooden bridge on site in Ceylon. It consisted of 1,200 bamboo tubes, was 35 meters high and 130 meters long. It was Ashton who had previously pointed out the 'Kwai' director David Lean and his producer Sam Spiegel to the fact that Ceylon, well known to him from his military service, was the ideal filming location and toured possible locations on site. In the worst case, he suggested to Spiegel, who at that time (around 1955) had not even put together his cast, he could offer the finished bridge, which Ashton estimated to be built to take at least one year, for sale, should the huge film project last Fail moment.
In the following years Ashton's orders alternated between B- and large-scale productions. His creations for two lavish equipment films, Peter Ustinov's The Damned of the Seas and Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War , from. For the latter achievement he was awarded the British Film Prize in 1970 in the Best Production Design category . In 1965, he also designed the ship interiors of Charles Chaplin's largely disappointing, romantic comedy The Countess of Hong Kong , the legendary artist's last work. After his Oscar nomination for the large-scale and ambitious Churchill biography The Young Lion , also by Attenborough, whom he met in 1947 while filming Brighton Rock , Don Ashton retired from the cinema business.
Drafts as an architect
Parallel to his film activity, he devoted himself to classical architecture and designed hotels and restaurants, mainly in Asia. His most significant individual achievement in this sector was the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong in 1963 , which is considered one of the most elegant of its kind in the world. His most famous new restaurant, the Clipper Lounge, also located in this city, got its name from the huge golden figurehead that stands at the entrance in front of the staircase. Ashton had once created this figure (1961) for the sailor's bow (= clipper, hence the name) in The Damned of the Seas . In 1963 he had it transported to Hong Kong, where it eventually became part of the interior of the Clipper Lounge. Ashton lived in the British Crown Colony for around twenty years after his film career ended.
Most recently, Donald Martin Ashton settled in Somerset County, where he also died. His second wife, Joan, with whom he had been married since 1975, died in the same year as him.
Filmography
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Web links
- Don Ashton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ashton, Don |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ashton, Donald Martin (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British architect, film designer and set designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 26, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edmonton, Greater London |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 25, 2004 |
| Place of death | Compton Dundon, Somerset |