Filmmaker Ronald Neame died 16 June 2010, of complications from a fall. Born 23 April 1911 in London, England, he was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in the 1996 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to the film industry. He was nominated for three Academy Awards: for Best Special Effects (sound) for One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), for Best Writing Screenplay for Brief Encounter (1945), and for Best Writing Screenplay for Great Expectations (1946). He shared the latter two with David Lean and Anthony Havelock-Allan.
He was destined to work in film: his father (Elwin Neame) was a film director, and his mother (Ivy Close) was a silent film star. His father died in 1923, forcing Ronald to go to work for the British studio Elstree at the age of 16, starting as a messenger boy. Two years later, he was assistant cameraman on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929). By the time he was 30, he was a leading cinematographer, and had teamed up with playwright Noël Coward and director David Lean to make films such as Blithe Spirit (1945). He went on to be an independent producer and director, and helped pioneer the Technicolor technology.
He moved to the US in the 1940s, and continued his string of successes.
Neame had only a few genre credits to his name. They include: Blithe Spirit (1945), for which he was a writer and cinematographer, Scrooge (1970) which he directed, and Meteor (1979) which he directed and appeared in.
The New York Times has more on his non-genre place in film history in this obituary. Neame is survived by his second wife, Donna Friedberg (they married in 1993), one son from his first marriage, and a grandson. His first marriage, to Beryl Heanly, ended in divorce in 1992, after 60 years.