Michael Carreras

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Michael Henry Carreras (born December 21, 1927 in London , † April 19, 1994 ) was a British film producer , screenwriter , director and studio manager, specializing in horror fabrics for his own company, Hammer Films .

Life

Carreras came from a dynasty of film merchants. His grandfather Enrique Carreras (1880–1950) came to England from Spain before the First World War and opened his first cinema in London-Hammersmith in 1913. A whole chain of movie theaters soon followed. Enrique Carreras and the vaudeville artist William Hinds, stage name Will Hammer, founded a joint film distribution company, "Exclusive Films Ltd.", in 1935, from which the production company 'Hammer Films' was to emerge in 1947 - a studio that merged from the mid-1950s Should make name as a specialist in horror films.

Michael Carreras followed his father James Carreras (1909–1990) into the company in 1943, when he was doing his military service. Carreras junior learned the film trade from scratch, interrupted only by his own military service in 1946/47. From 1951 he was responsible as a producer. Despite notorious financial weakness and various production partners, “Hammer Films” remained a family business in which Carreras, like Will Hammers' son, Anthony Hinds, held a wide variety of positions - not only as a producer, but later also as a director and screenwriter. In 1961, Carreras left his father's company for a while, founded his own company with the short-lived “Capricorn Films”, but soon returned to “Hammer Films”.

Michael Carreras only took over the management of the company as Managing Director in January 1971, and in August of the following year he bought the company from his father James. Until then, the experienced film salesman had excelled above all as a producer and screenwriter, while his productions sometimes showed considerable weaknesses. In the mid-1970s, "Hammer Films" largely ceased production.

In 1986 Carreras received the Career Award at the Fantafestival.

Michael Carreras died of cancer in April 1994.

Filmography

As a producer or line producer

literature

  • Allen Eyles, Robert Adkinson, Nicholas Fry: The House of Horror. The Story of Hammer Films. Lorrimer Publishing Limited, London 1973, ISBN 978-0-85647-020-2 , pp. 7-12.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Carreras, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Carreras, Michael Henry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film producer, screenwriter, director and studio manager
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1994
Place of death London