Michael Balcon

[nijinski]

Did you know daniel day lewis's grandfather was sir michael balcon. Michael Balcon was born in birmingham in 1896l he went to school in george dixons grammer school. He went on to be personal assistant to the managing director of dunlops in aston cross. He and his friend victor saville. Went to london and set up victory motion pictures and later changed it to gainsborough pictures. In that time he hired a young promising director called alfred hitchcock. He later went on to be the boss at ealing studios and produced many good film dramas and comedys. One of these films was the blue lamp about a policeman called george dixon who was name after his grammer school and george dixon went on to be the policeman in dixon of dock green. He was knight in 1948 and went on to be chairman of the british film insitute and help set up bafta.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Great stuff nijinski (is that the fab Colin Bell as your avatar? - edited on Alberta's advice!). I did have him on my list, but you did a super job, so many thanks! The only thing I might have mentioned that the family was not very well off, and received wisdom has it that he had to leave George Dixon's school in 1913 "due to his family's financial needs". Were the Grammar schools fee paying then, anyone know? Or as there was War looming, did they just need another earner; as my dad had to forego a place at Moseley Art School for precisely those reasons! I also believe Michael worked as a jeweller's apprentice, was turned down for service in World War I because of defective eyesight, and, as you say, joined the Dunlop Rubber Company's huge plant at Aston Cross in 1915, rising to become personal assistant to the managing director.

I also think it worth adding that on 10 April 1924, he married Aileen Freda Leatherman (1904–1988), daughter of Max Jacobs and Beatrice Leatherman, born in Middlesex, but brought up in Johannesburg. In 1946, Aileen was appointed MBE for her war work. Their marriage was happy and lasted until Balcon's death. They had two children: Jill (1925–2009), and Jonathan (1931-2012). His daughter Jill Balcon became an actress, his son-in-law Cecil Day-Lewis was an Irish-born Poet Laureate, and his grandson is the successful Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis. His granddaughter is the television chef Tamasin Day-Lewis.



Michael Balcon

I do hope that others can nominate or add their heroes or heroinnes?

As you can see, he lived at 36 Belgrave Road in 1911. His dad was Polish and a tailor's cutter, and his mom was Russian....local boy made good...

 

[Wendy]

This thread gets more interesting by the minute. Thanks to nijinsky for bringing this to our attention and thanks to you Dennis for filling in a bit more info and a wonderful photo. I had not heard of Michael Balcon untill now but well remember the films and his talented grandson.