Roy Skeggs (April 1934 – 29 December 2018) was a British film producer for

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

who is credited along with Brian Lawrence for revitalising the film company following receivership in 1979.

Early life

Skeggs and Lawrence were former board members of Hammer Films who had resigned to form their own production company,

Cinema Arts Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

. When Hammer entered receivership in 1979, Skeggs and Lawrence returned at the request of company management to develop a new direction for the ailing production house. Skeggs relocated Hammer Films to Hampden House in Buckinghamshire, and shifted production away from horror films featuring

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

and

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

towards anthologies and television serials. Production schedules were shortened and new features were largely shot on location in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

rather than the more expensive studio backlot. The ''

Hammer House of Horror ''Hammer House of Horror'' is a British television series made in 1980. An anthology series created by Hammer Films in association with Cinema Arts International and ITC Entertainment, it consists of 13 hour-long episodes, originally broadcas ...

'' television series, which debuted in the UK on 13 September 1980, was created by Skeggs. He died in December 2018 at the age of 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skeggs, Roy 1934 births 2018 deaths British film producers