Peter Proud (born Ralph Priestman Proud, 6 May 1913,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

– 1989,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) was a British film art director. He made a major contribution to wartime camouflage and deception operations in the Western Desert, especially in the siege of

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

Early career

In 1928, Proud left school at age 15 and started work at the Elstree film studios on Alfred Hitchcock films including ''

Murder! ''Murder!'' is a 1930 British thriller film co-written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Edward Chapman. Written by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville and Walter C. Mycroft, it is based on the 19 ...

'' (1930) and ''

Rich and Strange ''Rich and Strange'', released in the United States as ''East of Shanghai'', is a 1931 romance film directed by Alfred Hitchcock during his time in the British film industry. The film was adapted by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville, and Val V ...

''. In 1932 he joined Gaumont British as assistant designer to Alfred Junge. The British Film Institute's

Raymond Durgnat Raymond Durgnat (1 September 1932 – 19 May 2002) was a British film critic, who was born in London to Swiss parents. During his life he wrote for virtually every major English language film publication. In 1965 he published the first maj ...

described him as an "ace production designer". In 1935 he moved to

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

, and in 1936 he became an art director at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, where he worked on Michael Powell's film ''Something Always Happens''.

Wartime camouflage

Proud worked as a camouflage officer under

Geoffrey Barkas Geoffrey Barkas (born Geoffrey de Gruchy Barkas, 27 August 1896 – 3 September 1979) was an English film maker active between the world wars. Barkas led the British Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate in the Second World War. His larges ...

in the Western Desert in the Second World War, and was responsible for effective

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

and deception in the Siege of Tobruk. With Steven Sykes, he created the dummy port at Ras al Hilal to divert enemy attention from the Eighth Army's vital supply ports. He was a creative camoufleur, inventing the "Net Gun Pit", a quickly-erected structure of netting and canvas, that from the air closely resembled an anti-aircraft gun in a sandbagged pit.

Post-war

After the war, Proud ran his own production company. He worked on the TV series '' The Buccaneers'' and ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Technicolor swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and stars Errol Flynn, Olivia d ...

'' at Nettlefold Studios.Robin Hood (TV)
. Retrieved 13 November 2012.

Selected filmography

Proud worked, mainly as art director, on films including: * ''

'' (1930) * ''

Orders is Orders ''Orders Is Orders'' is a 1933 British comedy film starring Charlotte Greenwood, James Gleason and Cyril Maude about an American film crew who move into a British army barracks to start making a film, much to the commander's horror. Much of the ...

'' (1933) * ''My Old Dutch'' (1934) * ''

Waltzes from Vienna ''Waltzes from Vienna'' is a 1934 British biographical film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, sometimes known as ''Strauss' Great Waltz''. It was part of the cycle of operetta films made in Britain during the 1930s. Hitchcock's film is based on th ...

'' (1934) * '' Something Always Happens'' (1934) * ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' ( Alfred Hitchcock, 1934) * ''Man of the Moment'' (1935) * ''

The Black Mask ''The Black Mask'' is a 1901 short story collection by E. W. Hornung. It was published in the UK by Grant Richards, London, and in the US by Scribner's, New York under the title ''Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman''.Rowland, ...

'' (1935) * ''It's in the Bag'' (1936) * '' Educated Evans'' (1936) * ''

Don't Get Me Wrong "Don't Get Me Wrong" is a song released by British-American alternative rock group The Pretenders. It was the first single taken from the group's 1986 album, '' Get Close''. It can also be found on the band's '' The Singles'' album, released in ...

'' (1937) * '' Everything Happens to Me'' (1938) * '' They Drive by Night'' (1938) * '' The Return of Carol Deane'' (1938) * '' Many Tanks Mr. Atkins'' (1938) * '' Green for Danger'' (1946) * ''

The Woman in the Hall ''The Woman in the Hall'' is a 1947 British drama film directed by Jack Lee and starring Ursula Jeans, Jean Simmons, Cecil Parker. The screenplay was written by Jack Lee, Ian Dalrymple and Gladys Bronwyn Stern, from Stern's 1939 novel of the s ...

'' (1947) * ''

For Them That Trespass ''For Them That Trespass'' is a 1949 British crime film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and starring Richard Todd, Patricia Plunkett and Stephen Murray. It is an adaptation of the 1944 novel of the same name by Ernest Raymond. The film's main ...

'' (1949) * '' Nowhere to Go'' (1958) * ''

Desert Mice ''Desert Mice'' is a 1959 British comedy film featuring Alfred Marks, Sid James, Dora Bryan, Irene Handl, John Le Mesurier and Liz Fraser. A group of ENSA entertainers with the British army in the North Africa desert during the Second World War t ...

'' (1959) * ''The League of Gentlemen'' (1960) * ''The Guilty Party'' (1962) * '' It's All Over Town'' (1963) * ''

Saturday Night Out ''Saturday Night Out'' is a 1964 British comedy-drama film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Heather Sears, John Bonney, Bernard Lee, Erika Remberg, Francesca Annis, Margaret Nolan and David Lodge. The screenplay concerns a trio of ...

'' (1964) * ''Fanatic'' (1965) * ''

Theatre of Death ''Theatre of Death'' (also known as ''Blood Fiend'') is a 1967 British horror movie directed by Samuel Gallu and starring Christopher Lee as a theatre director whose Grand Guignol theatre is thought to be linked to a series of murders.John Hamilto ...

'' (1966) * ''

The Naked Runner ''The Naked Runner'' is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Frank Sinatra, Peter Vaughan and Edward Fox. It was the last film Sinatra made with Warner Bros., and is largely viewed as being a disastrous end ...

'' (1967)

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

IMDb: Peter Proud: Filmography - Art Director
{{DEFAULTSORT:Proud, Peter 1913 births 1989 deaths British art directors Camoufleurs