Nora Francesca Blackburne (21 April 1914 – 7 July 2009) was a British casting director and civil servant.

Biography

Nora Francisca Blackburne was born in

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

to a banker John Devereaux Blackburne and Francisca Nazaria López. She was educated at South Hampstead High School and then RADA (class of 1935). As a striking young woman amongst a very exciting and creative and mostly male crew at the Ministry of Information's Crown Film Unit its leader Ian Dalrymple saw she needed a challenge and made her the Assistant to the pioneering documentary film-maker

Humphrey Jennings Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 195 ...

. She met her future husband Jack Lee there. He was the elder brother of

Laurie Lee Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE (26 June 1914 – 13 May 1997) was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter, who was brought up in the small village of Slad in Gloucestershire. His most notable work is the autobiographical trilogy ...

, and became a film director post war. Her two sons survive her. Later she had a series of jobs including working at the National Coal Board's staff college,

The Vache The Vache is an estate near Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, England. Located within the estate is a monument dedicated to the memory of Captain James Cook (1728–1779), the explorer. It has been owned or occupied by, among others, George ...

, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, former home of her first husband, Adam Alexander Dawson.

Personal life

She was first married to Adam Alexander Dawson, and secondly to film director Jack Lee. Both of her marriages ended in divorce, the first in 1946 and the second marriage ended in divorce in 1963.''Laurie Lee: The Well-loved Stranger'', published by Viking, Valerie Grove, 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburne, Nora 1914 births 2009 deaths Alumni of RADA Argentine emigrants to the United Kingdom Argentine people of British descent British civil servants British casting directors Women casting directors People educated at South Hampstead High School People from Buenos Aires Place of death missing