- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJohn Philip Baxter
- A maker of unpretentious working class comedies and musicals, John Baxter had started his career as a music hall performer himself and would later gravitate toward vehicles for the charming popular WWII duo Flanagan and Allen as well as the low brow transvestite humor of Old Mother Riley. He made, however,an unusual number of studies of the hardships of the poor, such as his masterful 1941 adaptation of Walter Greenwood's Depression drama Love On The Dole. In such works, still awaiting proper rediscovery by viewers and critics, he displayed, to borrow the title of another of his films, a genuine "Common Touch" .- IMDb mini biography by: Lawrence Chadbourne
- Was a lifelong Christian Scientist.
- Served with the British Army at Passchendale in World War I. He began his career as a performer in regional music hall, then worked as a tour manager, agent and stage manager.
- Prolific British producer and director of modestly-budgeted working-class melodramas and comedies. At British National in the 1930s, he set up his own company, John Baxter Productions, in 1944. In 1951 he helped establish Group 3 with John Grierson (I) and Michael Balcon.
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