Ken Annakin

About Ken Annakin

Who is it?: Director, Writer, Producer
Birth Day: August 10, 1914
Birth Place:  Beverley, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation: Film director
Years active: 1941–1992
Spouse(s): Pauline Carter
Children: 2

Ken Annakin

Ken Annakin was born on August 10, 1914 in  Beverley, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, is Director, Writer, Producer. A former salesman and journalist, Ken Annakin got into the film industry making documentary shorts. His feature debut, Holiday Camp (1947), was a comedy about a Cockney family on vacation. It was made for the Rank Organization and was a modest success, spawning three sequels, all of which he directed. He worked steadily thereafter, mainly in light comedies. One of his more atypical films was the dark thriller Across the Bridge (1957), based on a Graham Greene story about a wealthy businessman who embezzles a million dollars from his company, kills a man who resembles him and steals his identity so he can escape to Mexico. It boasted an acclaimed performance by Rod Steiger as the villain and a distinct "noir" feel to it, unlike anything Annakin had done before (or, for that matter, since).In the 1960s he was one of several British directors--e.g., Guy Green, John Guillermin--who specialized in turning out all-star, splashy, big-budget European/American co-productions, shot on the Continent. He was one of the directors of the epic World War II spectacle The Longest Day (1962) and went solo on Battle of the Bulge (1965), both of which were financial--if not exactly critical--successes. He also directed Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965), which was less successful. His final film was Genghis Khan: The Story of a Lifetime (2010), a film that was started in 1992 under Annakin's direction but never completed. In 2009 it was restarted again and Annakin was hired to assemble the existing footage for release, but died before completing the job. Italian director Antonio Margheriti finished up and the film was released in 2010.
Ken Annakin is a member of Director

Does Ken Annakin Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Ken Annakin has been died on 22 April 2009(2009-04-22) (aged 94)\nBeverly Hills, California, US.

🎂 Ken Annakin - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Ken Annakin die, Ken Annakin was 94 years old.

Popular As Ken Annakin
Occupation Director
Age 94 years old
Zodiac Sign Virgo
Born August 10, 1914 ( Beverley, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom)
Birthday August 10
Town/City  Beverley, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Nationality United Kingdom

🌙 Zodiac

Ken Annakin’s zodiac sign is Virgo. According to astrologers, Virgos are always paying attention to the smallest details and their deep sense of humanity makes them one of the most careful signs of the zodiac. Their methodical approach to life ensures that nothing is left to chance, and although they are often tender, their heart might be closed for the outer world. This is a sign often misunderstood, not because they lack the ability to express, but because they won’t accept their feelings as valid, true, or even relevant when opposed to reason. The symbolism behind the name speaks well of their nature, born with a feeling they are experiencing everything for the first time.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Ken Annakin was born in the Year of the Tiger. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Tiger are authoritative, self-possessed, have strong leadership qualities, are charming, ambitious, courageous, warm-hearted, highly seductive, moody, intense, and they’re ready to pounce at any time. Compatible with Horse or Dog.

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Famous Quotes:

So You Wanna Be a Director? is an entertaining autobiography through which seasoned directors and aspirants alike can enjoy and learn from a man with such a versatile and long-lived career. If Annakin tells of his exasperation over trying to coax performances out of producers' girlfriends, the bad behaviour – and sometimes the drug problems – of certain stars and the vagaries of international film financing, he's providing tales that are as cautionary today as when he lived them.

Biography/Timeline

1926

In 2001 he released a highly regarded autobiography So You Wanna Be A Director? published by Tomahawk Press (ISBN 0-953 1926-5-2). Considered "a classic among directors' autobiographies" it has forewords by both Richard Attenborough and Mike Leigh. In their review, the Directors Guild of America stated

1940

His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002. His career peaked in the 1960s with large-scale adventure films and in all he directed nearly 50 pictures.

1942

Injured in the Liverpool Blitz, he joined the RAF Film Unit, where he worked as camera operator on propaganda films for the Ministry of Information and the British Council. We Serve (1942), a recruiting film for women, was directed by Carol Reed, who made Annakin his assistant Director, after which Annakin directed several training films for Verity Films, a group led by Sydney Box, who was about to become head of Gainsborough Pictures. His early documentaries included London 1942 (1942), Make Fruitful the Land (1945), We of the West Riding (1945), and English Criminal Justice (1946). He also made the shorts It Began on the Clyde (1946) and Fenlands (1946).

1947

Annakin had made a number of documentaries for Sydney Box and when Box took over as head of Gainsborough Pictures he brought Annakin with him and assigned him to his first feature, Holiday Camp (1947). It was a solid hit and launched Annakin's career.

1948

Holiday Camp featured the Huggetts, a working-class family living in suburban England headed by Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison. They were spun off into their own vehicle directed by Annakin, Here Come the Huggetts (1948) with Petula Clark, Jane Hylton, and Susan Shaw as their young daughters, Amy Veness as their grandmother and Diana Dors as their cousin. It was popular and led to Vote for Huggett (1949) and The Huggetts Abroad (1949).

1949

Annakin moved over to Associated British Pictures Corporation for whom he directed Landfall (1949), a war film; and Double Confession (1950), a thriller.

1951

For United Artists he did the comedy Hotel Sahara (1951) with Peter Ustinov.

1952

Annakin then received an offer from Walt Disney to make The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) with Richard Todd. He then made an action film set during the Malayan Emergency, the United Artist's film The Planter's Wife (1952) with Jack Hawkins and Claudette Colbert, which was a big hit in Britain. Disney reunited Annakin and Todd on The Sword and the Rose (1953), a commercial disappointment.

1954

Annakin made a comedy, You Know What Sailors Are (1954) then did another imperial adventure story with Hawkins, The Seekers (1954). He returned to comedy for Value for Money (1955), Loser Takes All (1956) and Three Men in a Boat (1956). The latter especially was popular.

1957

Annakin made Across the Bridge (1957) with Rod Steiger from a story by Graham Greene. He then travelled to South Africa to make another adventure story, Nor the Moon by Night (1958).

1959

Disney called again and hired Annakin to make a mountaineering tale, Third Man on the Mountain (1959). They kept him on for Swiss Family Robinson (1960), which Walt Disney’s nephew, Roy, considered "one of the greatest family adventure films of all time and a favourite for generations of moviegoers". It was a huge hit.

1961

Annakin returned to comedy with Very Important Person (1961) and travelled to South Africa for The Hellions (1962). The Fast Lady (1962) and Crooks Anonymous (1962) were other comedies.

1962

He was later associated with another American Producer, Darryl F. Zanuck, when he was hired to direct the British and (uncredited) French and American interior segments in The Longest Day (1962), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, eventually losing out to Lawrence of Arabia. Annakin then made The Informers (1963).

1965

As head of the 20th Century-Fox Studio, Zanuck endorsed Annakin's most ambitious project Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965), also co-written by Annakin for which he received an Academy Award nomination.

1967

Annakin also directed the big-scale war film Battle of the Bulge the same year for the Warner Brothers studio. He did The Long Duel (1967) in India for Rank, The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968) for MGM in Italy, and Monte Carlo or Bust (1969) for Paramount Pictures.

1972

Annakin continued to travel widely with his films The Call of the Wild (1972) was shot in Finland; Paper Tiger (1975) in Malaysia;

1979

In 1979, Ken Annakin left Britain and moved to Los Angeles. There he made The Pirate (1978) and Institute for Revenge (1979). He travelled to Europe for The Fifth Musketeer (1979). In Hollywood he made Cheaper to Keep Her (1981) and went to Australia for The Pirate Movie (1982).

1988

Annakin's last completed film was The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988). The 1992 project Genghis Khan was not completed.

2002

Annakin was made one of the few Disney Legends by the Walt Disney Company in March 2002. He is only the second film Director to be so honoured. He was also awarded an OBE the same year for services to the film industry and received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Hull University.

2009

Claims were made that George Lucas took the name for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars from his friend and fellow film director; however, Lucas' publicist denied this following Annakin's death in 2009.

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