Monty Berman(1913-2006)

Monty Berman was a producer of popular action series for ITC in the 1960's and early 70's. He was born Nestor Montague Berman to Jewish parents in the poor Whitechapel district of London. After completing his education at the University College School, he joined the small Twickenham Studio as a camera assistant in 1922. Following a lengthy apprenticeship, he became a fully-fledged cinematographer with ABPC in 1935, but was able to secure assignments on just two films prior to the outbreak of World War II. During the war, he served in North Africa, Italy and Germany with the Eighth Army Film and Photographic Unit, forming a friendship with a fellow cameraman and amateur film maker named Robert S. Baker. Berman and Baker combined forces in 1948 to establish a production company for low-budget features, Tempean Films. In the course of the next thirteen years, Berman worked in the dual capacity of producer and cinematographer on more than thirty films, invariably shot on location in or around London and often featuring American stars in the twilight of their careers.

Most of their early endeavours were unambitious dramas or sub-film noir crime stories, which attracted neither critical attention, nor made much money. This began to change once Berman and Baker tapped into the horror market in an attempt to emulate the success of Hammer. Securing the services of writer Jimmy Sangster, they made several well-received films in the genre, including Le sang du vampire (1958), The Trollenberg Terror (1958), Jack l'Éventreur (1959) (their biggest hit to date, which Berman also directed) and L'impasse aux Violences (1960) (a variation on the Burke & Hare story). Aware of the economic potential of television, Berman concentrated exclusively on production after 1961. Having acquired the rights to Leslie Charteris's popular creation Simon Templar, Berman and Baker succeeded in securing finance via Lew Grade's ITC to produce Le Saint (1962). Launching Roger Moore to stardom and endowed with a respectable budget of 30,000 pounds per episode, the series became one of the mega hits of the 60's and has long since acquired cult status.

After "The Saint", the Berman-Baker partnership came to an end. Berman subsequently worked as solo producer on another show, Alias le Baron (1966), which worked on a similar premise, albeit with an American star. He then formed a new association with the writer Dennis Spooner, co-founding Scoton Productions in 1968. Based at Elstree, they created first Les champions (1968), a series about intelligence operatives with telepathic and various other extrasensory abilities. That was followed by two superior shows, Département S (1969) and Mon ami le fantôme (1969), shot side-by-side at the same facilities, using the same crew, sets, props, and extras. Though economically made with much usage of stock footage and recycled scripts, both series fared even better over the years than at the time of their original release. One of the stars of the former, Peter Wyngarde, became something of a cult figure as the effete, but debonair adventurer/novelist Jason King. However, an attempt to centre a new spoof series based on his character proved unsuccessful and was let down by poor production values and unimaginative scripts. A subsequent endeavour, L'aventurier (1972), featuring another fading American star, Gene Barry, received an even cooler reception. As a result, Berman was unable to find further work in television. He subsequently retired from public life and refused steadfastly to give interviews or comment on his career for the remainder of his life.