Basil Dearden(1911-1971)
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
A former stage director, Basil Dearden entered films as an assistant to
director Basil Dean (he changed his name from Dear to avoid being confused
with Dean). Dearden worked his way up the ladder and directed (with
Will Hay) his first film in 1941; two years later he directed his first
film on his own. He eventually became associated with writer/producer
Michael Relph, and together the two made films on themes not often tackled in
British films, such as homosexuality and race relations. In the '60s
Dearden embarked on a new phase of his career by directing large-scale
action pictures, the best of which was Khartoum (1966), which was a critical
and financial success. Not long after completing La seconde mort d'Harold Pelham (1970), Dearden was
killed in an automobile accident.
