Ken Annakin

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Ken Annakin , OBE (born Kenneth Cooper Annakin ; born August 10, 1914 in Beverley , East Riding of Yorkshire , † April 22, 2009 in Beverly Hills , California ) was a British film director and screenwriter .

Life

After school, Ken Annakin traveled to Australia , New Zealand and the United States in the 1930s , where he made his way through life with odd jobs. Upon his return he sold insurance and cars in England. During World War II he served as a flight mechanic with the Royal Air Force and was wounded during an air raid on Liverpool . He then worked as a cameraman for British documentaries , which were used as training films and recruitment films for the RAF, as well as documentaries for the British secret service. While working on one of these films, he met the director Carol Reed in 1942 , who offered him a position as an assistant.

As a director, he initially continued to make documentaries and made his feature film debut in 1948 with Miranda , in which Glynis Johns played a mermaid . After the huge success of this fantasy comedy, Annakin's career went well. It received a further boost from his collaboration with Walt Disney , who, starting with Robin Hood and his daring companions, entrusted him with directing some of his feature films. This was followed by the historical film A Princess in Love for Disney (again with Glynis Johns in the title role), The Third Man in the Mountain and the very elaborately produced jungle of 1000 dangers . The latter in particular gained lasting popularity.

Annakin then staged other large-scale productions such as The Longest Day , The Daring Men in Their Flying Chests - one of his greatest box office hits, for which he and Jack Davies also received an " Oscar " nomination for "Best Original Screenplay" - and The Last Battle . After that he had passed the zenith of his career and made less successful films, most of which were international co-productions. In 1983 he even received the infamous “ Golden Raspberry ” as “worst director” for the failed Pirate Movie (together with Terence Young , who received it for Inchon (1982)). Annakin's last movie was Pippi Longstocking's latest pranks , based on Astrid Lindgren's novel Pippi Longstocking .

The Disney Studios named Ken Annakin a " Disney Legend " in 2002 . In the same year, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his services to the drama. George Lucas named the character of " Anakin Skywalker " in the Star Wars films after him.

From 1960 until his death he was married to the painter Pauline Annakin. They have a daughter named Deborah Annakin Peters. Annakin died in April 2009 of complications from a stroke.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Annakin, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Annakin, Kenneth Cooper (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British director
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Beverley
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 2009
Place of death Beverly Hills , California