Michael Balcon
Biography
Sir Michael Balcon was a British film producer, perhaps best known for his work with Ealing Studios.
Michael Elias Balcon was born in Birmingham, the son of Polish tailor Louis Balcon and his Russian wife Laura.
He began his career in filmmaking during the 1920s and, together with Victor Saville and John Freedman, he formed Balcon, Freedman & Saville. By 1923, Balcon had produced his first film, Woman to Woman (starring Clive Brook) in 1923. He founded the Gainsborough Pictures company in 1924 and became head of Ealing Studios in the late 1930s.
He married Aileen Freda Leatherman on April 10th 1924.
Balcon was a key figure in the life of Alfred Hitchcock and gave him the opportunity to direct his first full feature film — The Pleasure Garden (1925). After Hitchcock left British International Pictures, Balcon contracted the director to Gaumont British where Hitchcock made a string of highly successful thrillers, beginning with The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934).
During the war, Balcon was critical of those who had left for Hollywood and singled out Hitchcock in particular:
I had a plump young junior technician in my studios whom I promoted from department to department. Today, one of our most famous directors, he is in Hollywood, while we who are left behind are trying to harness films to the great national effort.... I do not give this man's name as I have decided not to mention any of the deserters by name.
— Sunday Dispatch (25/Aug/1940)
Hitchcock responded by saying, "The British government has only to call upon me for my services. The manner in which I am helping my country is not Mr. Balcon's business."[1]
Balcon was knighted in 1948 and became chairman of Bryanston Films in 1959.
He died in 1977, aged 81.
Filmography
With Hitchcock...
- Woman to Woman (1923) - producer
- The Passionate Adventure (1924) - producer
- The Prude's Fall (1924) - producer
- The White Shadow (1924) - producer
- Die Prinzessin und der Geiger (1925) - producer
- The Pleasure Garden (1925) - producer
- The Mountain Eagle (1926) - producer
- Downhill (1927) - producer
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) - presenter and producer (uncredited)
- Easy Virtue (1928) - presenter and producer (uncredited)
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) — producer (uncredited)
- The 39 Steps (1935) — producer (uncredited)
- Sabotage (1936) - producer (uncredited)
- Secret Agent (1936) — producer (uncredited)
See Also...
Books
- Michael Balcon Presents a Lifetime of Films (1976) by Michael Balcon
Image Gallery
Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...
Genealogy
- born 19/May/1896 in Birmingham, England
- son of Louis Balcon (b. 1859)[2] and Laura Balcon (b. ~1859) née Greenberg[3], who married 31/Mar/1886 in Birmingham, Warwickshire
- brother of Phineas Charles Balcon (b. ~1887), Samuel Chandos Balcon (b. ~1891), Gertrude Rebecca Balcon (b. ~1894) and Helen Nettie Balcon (b. ~1898)
- died 17/Oct/1977 in Hartfield, East Sussex
Research Documents
Stepney Jewish School (1900)
1901 Census
30 Alexandra Road, Winshill, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire
1911 Census
36 Belgrave Road Edgbaston, Edgbaston, Worcestershire
Research Notes
- 1900 — student at the Stepney Jewish School, Tower Hamlets, along with his sister Gertrude, with an admission date of 27/Aug/1900
- 1920 Electoral Register — living at 36 Belgrave Road, Birmingham, with Pheanas Charles Balcon, Laura Balcon and Lewis Louis Balcon
- 1923 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York aboard the Majestic, which departed Southampton on 22/Aug/1923
- 1926 Passenger Lists — travelled with Charles Lapworth (journalist and film producer who wrote The Mountain Eagle) to New York aboard the Cedric, which departed Liverpool on 13/Mar/1926[4]
- 1926 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York aboard the Majestic, which arrived in Southampton on 30/Apr/1926[5]
- 1929 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York aboard the Mauretania, which departed Southampton on 11/May/1929
- 1929 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York aboard the Olympic, which arrived Southampton on 14/Jun/1929
- 1931 Electoral Register — living at 57A Tufton Street, London, SW1, with Aileen Freda Balcon, Victoria Kathleen Mayhew and Lydia Morris
- 1931 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York aboard the Bremen, which departed Southampton on 02/Apr/1931[6]
- 1933 Passenger Lists — travelled to Buenos Aires with Aileen Freda Balcon and Victor Saville aboard the Caparcona, which departed Southampton on 13/Jan/1933[7]
- 1933 Passenger Lists — travelled from Buenos Aires with Aileen Freda Balcon aboard the Arlanza, which arrived Southampton on 31/Jan/1933[8]
- 1934 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York with aboard the Majestic, which departed Southampton on 22/Sep/1934
- 1934 Passenger Lists — travelled from Buenos Aires aboard the Aquitania, which arrived Southampton on 19/Oct/1934
- 1935 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York with Aileen Balcon aboard the Olympic, which departed Southampton on 14/Feb/1935
- 1935 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York with Aileen Balcon aboard the Berengaria, which departed 19/Apr/1935 and arrived Southampton on 26/Apr/1935
- 1935 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York with aboard the Aquitania, which departed Southampton on 30/Oct/1935
- 1935 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York aboard the Aquitania, which arrived Southampton on 20/Dec/1935
- 1937 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York with Aileen F. Balcon aboard the Normandie, which arrived Southampton on 09/Aug/1937
- 1937 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York aboard the Berengaria, which arrived Southampton on 27/Aug/1937
- 1948 Passenger Lists — travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, aboard the Athlone Castle, which departed Southampton on 15/Apr/1948
- 1948 Passenger Lists — travelled from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with Aileen Freda Balcon aboard the Stirling Castle, which arrived Southampton on 25/Jun/1948
- 1953 Passenger Lists — travelled to New York with E. Aileen Balcon aboard the Queen Eilzabeth, which departed Southampton on 01/Apr/1953
- 1953 Passenger Lists — travelled from New York with Aileen F. Balcon aboard the Queen Mary, which arrived Southampton on 04/May/1953
- 1954 Electoral Register — living at 701 Hertford Street, London, W1
- 1965 Electoral Register — living at 10 Down Street, London, W1
- 1977 Death Register — aged 77, registered Q4 Uckfield, West Sussex
Links
Notes & References
- ↑ New York World-Telegram (27/Aug/1940) quoted in The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock (1983) by Donald Spoto, pages 235-36.
- ↑ Born 08/Feb/1859 in Konin, Poland. Died 27/Aug/1946.
- ↑ Born in Russia. Died 1934.
- ↑ See passenger list
- ↑ See passenger list
- ↑ See passenger list
- ↑ See passenger list
- ↑ See passenger list
