Richard Todd in his autobiography ‘Caught in the Act’ described Disney’s live-action film the Story of Robin Hood (1952) as a ‘happy’ movie, and the image above is a good example of that. This great picture of James Hayter in 1951, sat at a piano and in costume as Friar Tuck was sent to me by Neil. Hayter appears to be accompanied by some of the production crew at Denham Studios and they all seem to be having a good time. If you can identify those two other faces, please get in contact with me at disneysrobin@googlemail.com. I would be very thrilled to hear from you.
Sadly the making of Disney’s Robin Hood in 1951 was tinged with sadness, as it was the last major feature film to be made at Denham Studios. The Rank Organisation who owned it decided to close operations there. The massive film making complex, covering 165 acres and seven sound stages was built in Buckinghamshire by the Hungarian impresario Sir Alexander Korda. The site was finally demolished in 1977.
To read more about Denham Studios, please click on the label below.
2 comments:
James Hayter at the Piano
Friar Tuck
Denham Film Studios
Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood (1952)
Thought this unusual film still of an 'off the record' moment on the set of the film might have drawn more comments. James Hayter does seem quite a character - this being the pinnacle year of his film career with The Story of Robin Hood and The Pickwick Papers being released. Ken Annakin describes in his book how Walt Disney was not impressed at his first meeting when they were rehearsing Friar Tuck's song by the tree. He must have softened though and must have been very pleased with the results.
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