William K. Everson

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William Keith Everson (born April 8, 1929 in Yeovil , Somerset , † April 14, 1996 in New York City , New York ) was a British - American film historian and film archivist.

life and career

After serving in the British Army and working as a publicist, Everson emigrated to the United States at the age of 20. Here he worked for independent film distributors before becoming independent in 1955. He became a distinguished film collector who collected a lot of film material from archives for little or no money - material that would otherwise have been destroyed and neglected and which he thus saved. He also rediscovered some lost films. In the 1970s, his personal collection totaled over 4,000 films and was considered one of the largest private film collections in the world.

He demonstrated many of his film discoveries at the Theodore Huff Memorial Film Society , a group of Manhattan film fans. He gave the audience detailed notes on the context of the film and gave introductions. Often these were undeservedly forgotten films that Everson wanted to bring back to the public. According to an anecdote by Kevin Brownlow , Everson almost ended up in jail when, after the great success of Ben Hur in 1959 , he showed the 1925 silent film version , which Everson thought was significantly better, and was betrayed to the FBI by a competitor . He also made more frequent private shows in his apartment, which was attended by well-known filmmakers and historians such as Lindsay Anderson , Peter Bogdanovich , Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Sarris .

Everson taught at the School of Visual Arts from 1964 to 1984, and from 1972 until his death Everson was Professor of Cinematic Studies at New York University . He also served as co-director of the Telluride Film Festival from 1977 to 1988 . From the late 1950s onwards, Everson also wrote a total of numerous essays and almost 20 books on the subject of film, three of which were also translated into German for the well-known series of Citadel film books . He wrote about silent cinema, horror classics and comedians like Laurel and Hardy and WC Fields , among others .

William K. Everson died of prostate cancer in his Manhattan apartment in 1996 at the age of 67. In his obituary, the New York Times compared him to the French film historian Henri Langlois in terms of his impact on American cinema . He was married and had two children.

Honors

The William K. Everson Film History Prize , awarded by the National Board of Review , is named after William K. Everson . Everson was the first award winner in 1994.

Bibliography (selection)

  • Classics of the Silent Screen (1959)
  • The American Movie (1963)
  • The Films of Laurel and Hardy (1967) - German: Laurel and Hardy and their films (10204), Citadel
  • The Art of WC Fields (1967)
  • A Pictorial History of the Western Film (1971)
  • Classics of the Horror (1974) - German: classic horror film (10205), Citadel
  • American Silent Film (1978)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ William K. Everson Interview. Retrieved April 17, 2019 .
  2. ^ William Grimes: William K. Everson, Historian And Film Preservationist, 67 . In: The New York Times . April 16, 1996, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 17, 2019]).
  3. ^ William Grimes: William K. Everson, Historian And Film Preservationist, 67 . In: The New York Times . April 16, 1996, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 17, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Jon Solomon: Ben-Hur: The Original Blockbuster . Edinburgh University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4744-0796-0 ( google.de [accessed May 9, 2019]).
  5. ^ William Grimes: William K. Everson, Historian And Film Preservationist, 67 . In: The New York Times . April 16, 1996, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 17, 2019]).
  6. ↑ Biography of Everson at New York University
  7. ^ William Grimes: William K. Everson, Historian And Film Preservationist, 67 . In: The New York Times . April 16, 1996, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 17, 2019]).
  8. ^ William K. Everson Award for Film History Archives. In: National Board of Review. Retrieved May 9, 2019 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Everson, William K.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Everson, William Keith (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film historian and archivist
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Yeovil , Somerset , England
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1996
Place of death New York City , New York , United States