Ralph Smart

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Ralph Foster Smart (born August 27, 1908 in Chingford , Greater London , United Kingdom , † February 12, 2001 in Bowen , Queensland , Australia ) was an Australian-British film director , film producer , writer and filmmaker.

Life

Smart was born in 1908 in the London suburb of Chingford, northeast of Charing Cross . Both parents were Australian citizens. He started his professional career in 1927 as an editor, writer and director of short documentary films. Smart wrote the screenplay for the 1935 crime film Crime Unlimited together with Brock Williams. The film marks the debut of Lilli Palmer in an English language film. During this time he also edited the screenplays of early films by Michael Balcon at Gaumont- British before being involved in the creation of propaganda films and documentaries during the Second World War on behalf of the Australian government .

After the end of the war, Smart worked as a producer and director on two groundbreaking films: the seldom shown western about a cattle drive through the Australian outback The Great Drifting from 1946 and the British-Australian family film The Children of Mara-Mara from 1947.

From the mid-1950s onwards, Smart worked mainly in Great Britain, where he worked on popular television adventure stories such as Robin Hood (1955), The Buccaneers (1956) and William Tell (1958). He was especially known for his films about John Drake with Patrick McGoohan .

In 1969 he contributed the scripts for almost all episodes of the Australian television series SOS - Charter Boat with Ty Hardin and also appeared as a producer. The 1991 version of a film about Robin Hood entitled Robin Hood: The Movie was released by Smart for the last time, with the assistance of two colleagues.

Ralph Smart settled in Bowen, Queensland. There he died in February 2001 at the age of 93.

Award

Smart was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2000 for contributions to Australian film.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1929: A Cottage on Dartmoor
  • 1930: The Woodpigeon Patrol (Director, Writer)
  • 1935: Crime Unlimited (dialogues, screenplay)
  • 1936: Sweet Success (short film, director)
  • 1943: South West Pacific (short film, actor as RAF pilot)
  • 1946: The Big Drift ( The Overlanders , producer)
  • 1947: The Children of Mara-Mara ( Bush Christmas , director, screenplay, producer)
  • 1948: Quartet (segment The Facts of Life , direction)
  • 1949: A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (Director)
  • 1950: Bitter Springs (Director)
  • 1951: The Small Miracle (Director, Writer)
  • 1952: Curtain Up (Director)
  • 1953: Always a Bride (Director, Screenplay)
  • 1955–1956: Robin Hood (TV series, 19 episodes, director, screenplay)
  • 1956: The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (TV series, 3 episodes, director)
  • 1956–1957: The Buccaneers (TV series, 17 episodes, director, producer)
  • 1958: The Adventures of Mrs. Pastry (TV movie, director)
  • 1958–1959: William Tell - The Emperor's Hat (TV series, 39 episodes, director, writer, producer)
  • 1958–1959: The Invisible Man ( The Invisible Man , TV series, 34 episodes, director, author, producer)
  • 1960: John Drake's secret mission ( Danger Man , TV series, 2 episodes, director)
  • 1960–1967: Secret assignment for John Drake (TV series, 146 episodes, author, producer, etc.)
  • 1969: SOS - charter boat ( Riptide , 22 episodes, TV series, author, producer)
  • 1973: Elefantenjunge ( Elephant Boy , TV series, author)
  • 1991: Robin Hood: The Movie (Director)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flying Officer Ralph Foster Smart in: World War Two Nominal Roll; accessed on December 30, 2015
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Ralph Smart in the Internet Movie Database (English), see biography
personal data
SURNAME Smart, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smart, Ralph Foster (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian-British film director, film producer, writer and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Chingford , Greater London , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2001
Place of death Bowen , Queensland , Australia