Peter Charles Hammond Hill (15 November 1923 – 12 October 2011) ''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 October 2011 was an English actor and television director.
Peter Charles Hammond Hill was born in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
. His father, Charles, was an art restorer and his mother, Ada, a nurse. After attending
Harrow School of Art
, mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength
, type = Public
, established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster
, endowment = £5.1 million ...
, he started work as a scenic artist at
Sheffield Repertory Theatre
The Sheffield Repertory Theatre was a theatre company in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.
Herbert Prince, a railway clerk, founded the amateur dramatics society in 1919,Frank Long "Sheffield" in Colin Chambers ''Twentieth Century Theatre'', ...
. Following this, he turned to acting to "earn some cash", where he adopted the stage name of Peter Hammond. He first appeared in a West End production at the age of 17.
Hammond made his film début in '' Waterloo Road'' (1945) and carved a career playing handsome boy-next-door types throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, especially in the role of Peter Hawtrey in
The Huggetts Trilogy
''The Huggetts'' are a fictional family who appear in a series of British films which were released in the late 1940s by Gainsborough Pictures. The films centre on the character of Joe Huggett, played by Jack Warner, the head of a working class ...
– ''
Here Come the Huggetts
''Here Come the Huggetts'' is a 1948 British comedy film, the first of the The Huggetts (film series), Huggetts series, about a working class English family. All three films in the series were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough ...
'' (1948), ''
Vote for Huggett
''Vote for Huggett'' is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark. Warner reprises his role as the head of a London family, in the post-war years.
In this, the t ...
'' and ''
The Huggetts Abroad
''The Huggetts Abroad'' is a 1949 British film starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Petula Clark and Susan Shaw. It was the final film of The Huggetts. The film was less commercially successful than its predecessors. A sequel, ''Christmas ...
'' (both 1949). Hammond's other films include ''
Holiday Camp
A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with term ...
X the Unknown
''X the Unknown'' is a 1956 British science fiction horror film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Dean Jagger and Edward Chapman. It was made by the Hammer Film Productions company and written by Jimmy Sangster. The film is significant i ...
'' (1956).
In 1950, Hammond was reunited with his Huggetts co-star
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.
Clark's professional career began during the ...
and played her leading man in Ealing's ''
Dance Hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and citi ...
''. In this film he gave Clark her first screen kiss.
Hammond’s television roles include Hofmanstahl in ''
The Adventures of William Tell
''The Adventures of William Tell'' is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment. In the United States, the episodes aired on the syndicated NTA Film Network in 1958 ...
'' and Lt. Edward Beamish in '' The Buccaneers''.
In the 1960s, he turned to directing television programmes, including episodes of '' The Avengers'', ''
Armchair Theatre
''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968.
The Canadi ...
'', ''
Out of the Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...
'', and the BBC serial ''
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...
'' (1966). His work on ''The Avengers'' gave Hammond a free hand to explore many stylistic opportunities. The producer Leonard White and series creator
Sydney Newman
Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...
both congratulated him on giving the early episodes their distinctive visual style, and
Patrick Macnee
Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...
credited him as a major influence in the shaping of the character of John Steed. It was through Hammond's work on ''The Avengers'' and ''Armchair Theatre'' (also produced by Leonard White) that he would be awarded a Director's
Bafta Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
in 1965. Hammond's work on the series was entirely on the videotape seasons (1961–64). Although
Brian Clemens
Brian Horace Clemens (30 July 1931 – 10 January 2015) was an English screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on '' The Avengers'' and '' The Professionals''. Clemens claimed to be related to Mark Twain (Samuel ...
, producer of the filmed episodes of the show (1965–69), approached him a few times about directing further episodes, Hammond wasn't interested: "I told them to get lost – there was nothing I could love about the Avengers being made on film".
Hammond’s one foray into film as a director saw him directing James Mason in '' Spring and Port Wine'' (1970), based on the play of the same name by
Bill Naughton
William John Francis Naughton (12 June 1910 – 9 January 1992) was an Irish-born British playwright and author, best known for his play '' Alfie''.
Early life
Born into relative poverty in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland, he moved to Bo ...
and set in the
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
town of
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
.
Hammond continued to direct many television series of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including '' King of the Castle'', a production of ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...
'' for
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
in 1978, ''The Dark Angel'' for BBC2, ''
Rumpole of the Bailey
''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, o ...
'', ''
Follyfoot
''Follyfoot'' is a children's television series co-produced by the majority-partner British television company Yorkshire Television (for transmission on ITV) and the independent West German company ''TV München'' (for transmission on the ...
'', ''
The Wednesday Play
''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramati ...
'', ''
Cold Comfort Farm
''Cold Comfort Farm'' is a comic novel by English author Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb.
Plot summary
Following ...
The Little World of Don Camillo
''The Little World of Don Camillo'' ( it, Don Camillo; french: Le Petit Monde de don Camillo) is a 1952 Italian-French film directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Fernandel and Gino Cervi. It was the first film in the ''"Don Camillo"'' series, whic ...
Inspector Morse
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series ''Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...
'' and many more.
Peter Neill, a colleague who worked with Hammond on various productions of the time, remembers him as "very efficient, yet creative, with a friendly manner and sense of humour". He is said also to have had a good rapport with actors, perhaps due to his own background in that area.
He retired from directing in the mid-1990s due to illness and to look after his wife, Maureen Glynne, whom he married in 1948, until her death in 2005. They had three sons and two daughters, including the actress
Juliet Hammond-Hill
Juliet Hammond-Hill (born 13 November 1953) is an English actress, best known for her role in the television series '' Secret Army'' (1977–1979). She is also known as Juliet Hammond.
Early life
Hammond-Hill was born in St Pancras, London, the ...
The Huggetts Abroad
''The Huggetts Abroad'' is a 1949 British film starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Petula Clark and Susan Shaw. It was the final film of The Huggetts. The film was less commercially successful than its predecessors. A sequel, ''Christmas ...
Dance Hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and citi ...
'' (1950)
* ''
Father's Doing Fine
''Father's Doing Fine'' is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring Richard Attenborough, Heather Thatcher, and Noel Purcell, and featuring Sid James. It was based on the 1948 play ''Little Lambs Eat Ivy'' by Noel Langley ...
Flannelfoot
''Flannelfoot'' is a 1953 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Ronald Howard, Mary Germaine and Jack Watling.Chibnall & MacFarlane p.119 It was made at Walton Studios. The film's sets were designed by John Stoll.
The film ...
'' (1953)
* ''
Alf's Baby
''Alf's Baby'', also known as ''Her Three Bachelors'', is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Jerry Desmonde, Pauline Stroud and Olive Sloane.Chibnall & MacFarlane p.103 It was made by ACT Films, and released as a ...
'' (1953)
* ''
Confession
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
Soho Incident
''Soho Incident'', released in the United States as ''Spin a Dark Web'', is a 1956 British film noir directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Faith Domergue and Lee Patterson.
'' (aka ''Spin a Dark Web'') (1956)
* ''
X the Unknown
''X the Unknown'' is a 1956 British science fiction horror film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Dean Jagger and Edward Chapman. It was made by the Hammer Film Productions company and written by Jimmy Sangster. The film is significant i ...
'' (1956)
* ''
Model for Murder
''Model for Murder'' is a 1959 British crime film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Keith Andes, Hazel Court and Jean Aubrey.
Plot
American sailor David Martens, on shore leave in England, visits his brother Jack's grave. He meets fashion d ...