Roy Ward Baker Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography

Roy Ward Baker

Roy Ward Baker

Directing

Biography

Roy Ward Baker was an English film director born in London on 19 December 1916. His best known film is A Night to Remember which won a Golden Globe for best foreign English language film in 1959. His later career was varied, and included many horror films and television shows. Baker's early career, from 1934 to 1939, was spent working for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company based in Islington, North London, famous for its prestige productions. His first jobs were menial - making tea for crew members, for example - but by 1938 he had risen through the ranks to work as assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. He served in the army during World War II, until transferring to the Army Kinematograph Unit in 1943 in order to make better use of skills developed in his pre-war career producing documentaries and teaching materials for troops. One of his superiors at the time was novelist Eric Ambler. It was he who gave Baker his first big break directing The October Man, from an Ambler screenplay, in 1947. Ambler also adapted Walter Lord's A Night to Remember for Baker's 1958 screen version. During the early 1950s, Baker worked for three years in Hollywood where he directed Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and Robert Ryan in 3D film noir Inferno (1953). He returned to the UK for the latter part of the decade, but defected to television in the early 1960s. He directed episodes of The Avengers, The Saint and The Champions - all adventure series created with an eye on the American market. The low-budget ethic of television production made him well-suited to his next career move into cheaply produced but lavish-looking British horror films. He directed, amongst others, Quatermass and the Pit (1967) The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Scars of Dracula (1970) for Hammer, and Asylum (1972) for Amicus. In the latter part of the 1970s he returned to television, and throughout the 1980s continued to work in Television.  He retired in 1992.

Filmography Movies

Acting

Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror movie poster
MOVIE

Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror

7.3(0.0K)
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror
Self
Von Werra movie poster
MOVIE

Von Werra

7.3(0.0K)
Von Werra
Self
Inside the Fear Factory movie poster
MOVIE

Inside the Fear Factory

8.0(0.0K)
Inside the Fear Factory
Himself
The Saint Steps In... To Television movie poster
MOVIE

The Saint Steps In... To Television

9.0(0.0K)
The Saint Steps In... To Television
Himself
Fists of FireMOVIE
MOVIE

Fists of Fire

Not rated yet
Fists of Fire
Self
A Profile of Hitchcock: The Early Years movie poster
MOVIE

A Profile of Hitchcock: The Early Years

7.2(0.0K)
A Profile of Hitchcock: The Early Years
Self
Hitchcock: Alfred the GreatMOVIE
MOVIE

Hitchcock: Alfred the Great

7.0(0.0K)
Hitchcock: Alfred the Great
Himself

Production

Night Without Sleep movie poster
MOVIE

Night Without Sleep

5.8(0.0K)
Night Without Sleep
Director
A Night to Remember movie poster
MOVIE

A Night to Remember

7.7(0.3K)
A Night to Remember
Director
Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde movie poster
MOVIE

Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde

6.1(0.1K)
Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde
Director
Don't Bother to Knock movie poster
MOVIE

Don't Bother to Knock

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Don't Bother to Knock
Director
The Vampire Lovers movie poster
MOVIE

The Vampire Lovers

6.4(0.2K)
The Vampire Lovers
Director
Asylum movie poster
MOVIE

Asylum

6.0(0.2K)
Asylum
Director
Moon Zero Two movie poster
MOVIE

Moon Zero Two

4.8(0.0K)
Moon Zero Two
Director
Quatermass and the Pit movie poster
MOVIE

Quatermass and the Pit

6.6(0.3K)
Quatermass and the Pit
Director
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires movie poster
MOVIE

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires

5.8(0.1K)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Director
Scars of Dracula movie poster
MOVIE

Scars of Dracula

6.0(0.2K)
Scars of Dracula
Director

Gallery

Roy Ward Baker portrait