Francis Lyndhurst was an English theatrical scenery painter,

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, who set up an early film studio at

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

. Lyndhurst's first films, beginning with ''The Showman’s Dream'' in 1914, were made at Shoreham Fort by his production company (called ''Sealite'' or ''Sunny South Film Company'' - sources vary). The next year, he set up the ''Glasshouse Studio'' in a nearby, glass-sided, building. The business failed and Lyndhurst returned to his former occupation of scenery painting. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the barn in which Lyndhurst stored his films was destroyed by bombing. No copies of any of his films are known to survive. Lyndhurst had four sons; in order that they should avoid fighting in the Second World War, he bought a farm. Later, a portion of land was used to build chalets and set up a holiday camp. One of his four grandchildren is the actor

Nicholas Lyndhurst Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst (born 20 April 1961) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and became best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' (1981–2003). He also had major roles in other ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyndhurst, Francis English film directors English film producers People from Shoreham-by-Sea Year of birth missing Year of death missing