J. Lee Thompson

John Lee-Thompson, known as J. Lee Thompson (1 August, 1914 - 30 August, 2002) was a film director, active in both British films and Hollywood.

Related Topics:
1 August - 1914 - 30 August - 2002 - Film director - Hollywood

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Thompson was born in Bristol, England, and was a stage actor from age 17 and a playwright by 20. His entry into films was as an actor, and then a screenwriter. His directing debut came in 1950. Lee Thompson, as he was often known, made some critically well-received films in Britain, The Good Companions (1957), Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Tiger Bay (1959), Northwest Frontier (1959), I Aim at the Stars (1960), before he was assigned to direct The Guns of Navarone (1961), as a replacement of original director Alexander Mackendrick. The success of that film won him entry into Hollywood, where he directed Cape Fear (1962), a psychological thriller that was regarded as simply too controversial back home in Britain and subjected to much censorship.

Related Topics:
Bristol, England - 1950 - The Good Companions - 1957 - Woman in a Dressing Gown - Ice Cold in Alex - 1958 - Tiger Bay - 1959 - Northwest Frontier - I Aim at the Stars - 1960 - The Guns of Navarone - 1961 - Alexander Mackendrick - Hollywood - Cape Fear - 1962 - Censorship

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Lee Thompson's work in Hollywood was varied and received mixed receptions (including the Cossack epic Taras Bulba and the Mayan Indian epic Kings of the Sun, both starring Yul Brynner, two Shirley Maclaine vehicles What a Way to Go! and John Goldfarb, Please Come Home, and the big-budget Western Mackenna's Gold), though some of his best films from this period, Return from the Ashes (1965) and Country Dance aka Brotherly Love (1970), were at least partly if not wholly British productions. In the 1970s he functioned as Charles Bronson's regular director on several Hollywood action films, and taking on the occasional expensive "trashy" project such as The Greek Tycoon (1978), starring Anthony Quinn as a barely disguised Aristotle Onassis, and Jacqueline Bisset as Jackie Kennedy.

Related Topics:
Taras Bulba - Kings of the Sun - Yul Brynner - Shirley Maclaine - What a Way to Go! - John Goldfarb, Please Come Home - Mackenna's Gold - Return from the Ashes - 1965 - Country Dance - 1970 - 1970s - Charles Bronson - The Greek Tycoon - 1978 - Anthony Quinn - Aristotle Onassis - Jacqueline Bisset - Jackie Kennedy

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