Paul Almond
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Paul Almond (April 26, 1931 – April 9, 2015) was a Canadian director, producer and novelist. He is best known for his ground-breaking documentary Seven Up!.
Contents |
Life and career
Paul Almond attended Bishop's College School, McGill University and Balliol College, Oxford University, where he read Philosophy, Politics, Economics, edited the University magazine Isis played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club and was president of the university Poetry Society.
At the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked primarily as a director and producer, and also wrote several scripts. He did similar work in England for the BBC and Associated British Corporation (London) and Granada TV (where he created the ground-breaking documentary Seven Up!) before embarking on a career as a feature-length film-making.
In the late 1960s, he ambitiously attempted to establish a quality Canadian art cinema, with his understated and highly interiorized films Isabel (1968), The Act of the Heart (1970) and Journey (1972), featuring his then-wife actress Geneviève Bujold. At the time, these films were met with some critical resistance in Canada, but this unique trilogy constitutes Almond's best work to date and is a distinctive contribution to Canadian film.
After an absence from filmmaking of almost a decade, he went on directing three more films; Ups and Downs (1983), Captive Hearts (1987) and The Dance Goes On (1991), the later featuring once again Bujold, and their son Matthew Almond.
In addition to his television and film work, Almond has also produced and directed several plays on television by such authors as Henrik Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter, William Shakespeare, as well as creating his own adaptations of works by Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, Henry James, Somerset Maugham, to name but a few.
In recent years, Almond authored eight novels in the Alford Saga. The last novel in the Alford Saga is The Inheritor, a stand-alone autobiographical roman a clef about the remarkable life, loves, agonies, achievements and awards of Canada's prestigious movie producer, director, and author. It was published in April 2015 by Red Deer Press. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001, He was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Directors Guild of Canada in 2007. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Almond was first married to National Ballet of Canada leading dancer Angela Leigh, then to Geneviève Bujold from 1967 to 1973, their son, Matthew James Almond, was born in 1968. He has since married the photographer Joan Harwood Elkins in 1976.
He maintained a home in Malibu, California, in addition to his hereditary family farm in Shigawake, Quebec.
He died on April 9, 2015, in Beverly Hills, California, from complications arising from heart problems he had suffered for several years.
Filmography
- October Beach (1964)
- Seven Up! (1964)
- Isabel (1968), (Isabel was a box office success and won four Etrogs at the 1968 Canadian Film Awards, and Almond was nominated as best director of the year by the Directors Guild of America.)
- The Act of the Heart (1970), (Canadian Film Award for Best Director. Act of the Heart won five Canadian Film Awards in 1970.)
- Journey (1972)
- Ups and Downs (1983)
- Captive Hearts (1987)
- The Dance Goes On (1992)
Bibliography
Novels
- La Vengeance des Dieux (Art Global Publishers, 1999)
The Alford Saga:
- The Deserter (McArthur & Co, 2010)
- The Survivor (McArthur & Co, 2011)
- The Pioneer (McArthur & Co, 2012)
- The Pilgrim (McArthur & Co, 2012)
- Le Déserteur (Quebec-Amerique, 2013)
- The Chaplain (Sulby Hall Publishers, 2013)
- Le Défricheur (Quebec-Amerique, 2013)
- The Gunner (Red Deer Press, 2014)
- Les Bâtisseurs (Quebec-Amerique, 2014)
- The Hero (Red Deer Press, 2014)
- The Inheritor (Red Deer Press, 2015)
Biography
- High Hopes: Coming of Age in the mid-Century (ECW Press, 1999)(with Michael Ballantyne)
- The Inheritor (Red Deer Press, 2015. Released in April 2015 by Red Deer Press as the eighth and final novel in the Alford Saga, The Inheritor is a stand-alone autobiographical roman à clef about the remarkable life, loves, agonies and achievements of one of Canada’s most distinguished film and television producer-directors)
