Guy Green was Director of Photography on Walt Disney’s ‘Story of Robin Hood.’ As a co-founder of the British Society of Cinematographers, Green was to become a leading figure in Britain and the United States for over 40 years.
Green was born in Frome, Somerset on November 5th in 1913. His first love was always the cinema and much of his early childhood was spent watching his favorite westerns and the classic silent comedies on the silver screen at his local Picture House.
After leaving school he found work in the Commercial Maritime Service as a projectionist on the cruise liner ‘Majestic.’ This eventually led to his first early steps in the film business as a ‘clapperboy’ and camera assistant for Sound City advertising agency.
In London’s Soho, Guy Green opened his very own studio, where he worked as a portrait photographer. But still in his early twenties, he finally made his way into motion picture production, when he was hired as a camera assistant at Elstree Studios in 1933. He soon progressed to ‘focus puller’ and later as ‘director of photography.’
But it was at Denham Studios filming ‘One of Our Aircraft is Missing’ in 1942 that Green first met up with David Lean. Lean at that time was employed as film editor and the two of them soon struck up a firm friendship. When Lean became a director he brought in Guy Green as his camera operator, on Noel Coward’s ‘In Which We Serve’ (1942) and ‘This Happy Breed’ (1944). Green soon began gaining a reputation for his stunning atmospheric cinematography and David Lean put that talent to brilliant effect when they teamed up on ‘Great Expectations' (1946). This classic of British cinema, which included Martitia Hunt as Miss Havisham, gained Guy Green an Academy Award-the first British director to do so.
Two years later the collaboration worked again with another masterpiece, ‘Oliver Twist’ (1948). It was on the set of this movie that Green first met his future wife, Josephine. They later had two children, Marilyn and Michael; both were later involved in the film industry.
After his success with ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Oliver Twist’, Guy Green- together with Freddie Young and Jack Cardiff-founded the British Society of Cinematographers. His work continued with 'The Passionate Friends' (1949), 'Adam and Evelyn' (1949), 'Madelyn' (1950), 'Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.' (1951) , 'Night Without Stars' (1951) and two for Walt Disney, 'The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men' (1952) and 'Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue' (1953).
By the mid-fifties Guy Green, inspired by David Lean, gave up cinematography and started directing. His first major success came with 'The Angry Silence' (1960) starring Richard Attenborough and Michael Craig. This controversial film about a man’s experience of refusing to take part in an unofficial strike, was Britain’s first entry at the Berlin Film Festival. It went on to win the International Critic’s Award.
Green’s successful work as director, continued with ‘The Mark’ in 1961. With strong performances by Stuart Whitman, Maria Schell and Rod Steigar, this powerful drama about a 33 year old man re-building his life after being released from prison for intent to commit child molestation was nominated for many awards including the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1962 Guy Green moved to Hollywood and began filming, what he later described as his ‘proudest work,’ ‘A Patch of Blue.’ Written, directed and produced by Green, this interracial drama about a chance encounter between a blind girl (Elizabeth Hartman) and a black office worker (Sidney Poitier), was nominated for five Academy Awards. Green was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and Shelly Winters received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the blind girl's prostitute mother.
He had success in 1973 with his re-direction of John Osborne’s ‘Luther’ for the American Film Theater. But over the next ten years his work failed to reach the high standards he had previously set. ‘The Magus’ (1968) received a critical mauling and ‘Jacqueline Susann’s Once Is Not Enough’ (1974) was described as ‘garishly budgeted and ponderously executed.’
Green turned in 1979 to directing American TV movies. His last production was Arthur Hailey’s ‘Strong Medicine’ (1986).
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave Green a Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to World Cinema in 2002 and in 2004 he was named as Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his lifetime contributions to British cinema.
After a long illness he passed away at his Beverly Hills home on September 15th 2005 aged 91.
© Clement of the Glen 2008
"Hold! I am Eleanor, by the wrath of God, Queen of England. Down on your knees, you traitorous dogs!”
With these haughty lines, Martitia Hunt as Eleanor of Aquitaine, attempts to stop an attack, by the Sheriff’s soldiers, on the royal entourage in Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood. A regal role she played with her usual scene stealing ability.
In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Donald Roy describes Martitia thus:"With an arresting appearance and a dominant stage presence, she proved most effective as strong, tragic characters, her Gertrude in Hamlet being accounted by some critics the finest they had seen."
Martitia was born on a ranch in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Alfred and Marta Hunt on 30th January 1900. When she was ten, the family returned to England, where Martitia attended Queenwood boarding-school in Eastbourne. She trained as an actress under Dame Genevieve Ward and Lady Benson. And by 1920 she had appeared in her first movie, an obscure 2 reel, silent film, produced by Walter West called The Rank Outsider.
After joining the Liverpool Repertory Theatre, Martitia moved, in September 1929, to London and later, on John Gielgud’s insistence, she joined Harcourt Williams’s Old Vic Company for a season. It was there that she established herself as a stage actress and went on to make notable performances, particularly in Shakespearian plays, such as, Gertrude in Hamlet, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, the Queen in Richard II and Rosalind in As You Like It, alongside Gielgud.
Like many actors and actresses of her time, Martitia divided her career between stage and film production. In 1932 she made her first ‘talking’ picture debut as Aline, in Alexander Korda’s Service For Ladies. Many supporting, or cameo roles followed, including Aunt Esther in When Knights Were Bold (1936), Lady Francis Brandon Grey in Tudor Rose (1936) (alongside Cedric Hardwick and John Mills) and Lady Bogshott in Good Morning Boys (1937).
With middle age, Martitia finally achieved her greatest success. Firstly with her role as cousin Agatha in the 17th century costume drama, The Wicked Lady (1945) alongside Margaret Lockwood and James Mason. Then with a reprisal of a character she had performed in 1939.
David Lean had seen Martitia as Miss Havesham, along with Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket, in a stage production of Dickens’s novel, after being taken to the Rudolf Steiner Hall by his wife Kay Walsh. This inspired him to film his later award winning classic, Great Expectations (1946) in which both Martitia and Alec Guinness recreated their roles. This masterpiece proved to be a benchmark in movie production and went on to win two Oscars. One for its art direction and also for Guy Green’s (later director of photography on Disney’s Robin Hood (1952)) black and white cinematography.
Martitia’s brilliant, unforgettable performance, as the mad recluse, Miss Havesham, in the atmospheric setting of ‘Statis House,’ brought her world wide recognition. Three years later she made her Broadway debut in The Madwoman of Chaillot and won a Tony Award for Best Actress (Dramatic) for her 'Countess Aurelia'.
But her success, firmly began to typecast her in roles, as an ‘eccentric grand dame’ or ‘evil aristocrat.’ Gradually she reduced her stage work and in May 1956, played in her last theatre production, as Angelique Boniface in Feydeau’s farce, Hotel Paradiso. This was at the Winter Gardens, with Irene Worth and Alec Guinness, whom she had given voice lessons, at the beginning of his acting career.
More regal roles followed in her film career, including Princess Betty Tversky in Anna Karenina (1948) and the Duchess of Berwick in The Fan (1949).
The tall, stately, velvet voiced, Martitia Hunt, was of course, the perfect choice to play the part of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood (1952). As the mother of the crusading King Richard I and his scheming brother Prince John, she found herself the linchpin of a divided kingdom, a part, the elegant Martitia, was made for.
Her later, notable films, included Anastasia (1956) as Baroness Elena von Livenbaum with Ingrid Bergman, The Admirable Crichton (1957) as Lady Brocklehurst and as Anna Richter, the story teller, in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).In the final years of her career, Martitia once again found herself with regal roles like the Empress Matilda in Beckett(1964) and the Grand Duchess Lupavinova in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, (1964). Her last two films were the mystery thriller, Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) in which she played the part of Ada Ford and the sex comedy, The Best House in London (1969) as the headmistress.
Martitia Hunt died of bronchial asthma at 7 Primrose Hill Studios, Fitzroy Road, Hampstead, London, on 13th June 1969. She was 69.
Guy Green was Director of Photography on Walt Disney’s ‘Story of Robin Hood.’ As a co-founder of the British Society of Cinematographers, Green was to become a leading figure in Britain and the United States for over 40 years.
