oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
project which began in 2010, interviewing cast and crew members who worked at
Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...
. The project is conducted in partnership Howard Berry, a Senior Lecturer at the
University of Hertfordshire
The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...
, and formerly involved Elstree Screen Heritage as a partner. The project is endorsed by the
BECTU
The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017 following th ...
History Project and
Elstree Film Studios
Elstree Studios on Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire is a British film and television production centre operated by Elstree Film Studios Limited. One of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios, the Shenley Road st ...
.
Background
The Elstree Project interviews cast and crew members who have worked at any of the six main studios in Elstree and Borehamwood:
Elstree Film Studios
Elstree Studios on Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire is a British film and television production centre operated by Elstree Film Studios Limited. One of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios, the Shenley Road st ...
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
),
BBC Elstree Centre
The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Boreh ...
(formerly
ATV
ATV may refer to:
Broadcasting
* Amateur television
*Analog television
Television stations and companies
* Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra
* ATV (Armenia)
* ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate
* ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne
* ATV (Austria)
* AT ...
),
MGM-British Studios
MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established (as MGM London Films Denham) at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It was in limbo during the Second World War; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquired ...
Gate Studios
Gate Studios was one of the many studios known collectively as Elstree Studios in the town of Borehamwood, England. Opened in 1928, the studios were in use until the early 1950s. The studios had previously been known as Whitehall Studios, Consoli ...
.
The project has interviewed crew members from various departments including continuity, sound, post-production, camera and lighting, props and scenery and construction. Writers, producers and directors have also been interviewed, including
Jan Harlan
Jan Harlan (born 5 May 1937) is a German-American executive producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, director Stanley Kubrick's widow. He is the nephew of the film director Veit Harlan.
Life
Jan Harlan was born in Karlsruhe in 1937, ...
,
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
,
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer.
Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius'', King Richard IV i ...
,
Kenneth Cope
Kenneth Charles Cope (born 14 April 1931) is an English retired actor and scriptwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', Jed Stone in ''Coronation Street'' and Ray Hilton in ''Brookside (T ...
,
Walter Murch
Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. With a career stretching back to 1969, including work on ''THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Godfather I'', '' II'', and '' III'', ''Ame ...
, and
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
.
Access
There is currently no method of public access to the complete archive of interviews. However, the project content has been gradually made available through excerpts and edited documentaries. Content is also accessible in the Elstree and Borehamwood museum.
The project has hosted three seasons of screenings, showing either three films or two films and a double-bill of television episodes of productions made at the studios in Elstree and Borehamwood. These have included '' The Shining'' (1980), ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...
'' (TV 1967-68), ''
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
'' (1980) and ''
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' is a British private detective television series, starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope respectively as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. The series was created by Dennis Spooner and pro ...
'' (TV 1969-70). Edited extracts from the interviews recorded have been made into documentaries which have been premiered before each screening.
The 17-minute-long documentary which preceded ''The Shining'', entitled ''Staircases to Nowhere: Making Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'', gained attention from film blogs. Originally containing interviews with five crew members from the film, it was expanded to fifty-five minutes with additional interviews with four more crew members and with Kubrick's widow Christiane. Project content has been used by researchers and authors, such as Kiri Waldon's book ''British Film Studios'', as well as specially created for publication in published works such as the DVD release of ''Elstree Story''.
A documentary, made from project interviews, was completed in October 2014. ''From Borehamwood to Hollywood: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Elstree'', is a 100-minute-long film which tells the story of 100 years of filmmaking in the two towns. The film is narrated by Barbara Windsor.
Events
The project has run several screenings local to the area, and also notably gathered together the crew of ''The Shining'' to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of the film, in partnership with
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
. The organisers reunited 25 crew members from the film, along with
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
director
Lee Unkrich
Lee Edward Unkrich (born August 8, 1967) is an American film director, film editor, screenwriter, and animator. He was a longtime member of the creative team at Pixar, where he started in 1994 as a film editor. He later began directing, first as ...
, a fan of the film, and brought them back to Elstree Studios for the first time, before screening the film to an audience, with Q&A.
Danny Lloyd
Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd (born October 13, 1972) is an American former child actor best known for his role as Danny Torrance in the horror film '' The Shining'' (1980) an adaptation of Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name.
Life and car ...
, who played Danny in the film, also provided a pre-recorded message for the audience, describing his enjoyment of making the film.
Notable interviewees
Interviewed for ‘The Elstree Project’:
*
Terry Rawlings
Terence Rawlings (4 November 1933 – 23 April 2019) was a British film editor and sound editor with several BAFTA nominations and one Academy Award nomination. His credits as a sound editor date from 1962–1977, after which he was credited p ...
(post-production)
*
Johnny Goodman
John George Goodman (December 28, 1909 – August 8, 1970) was the last amateur golfer to win the U.S. Open, in 1933, and also won the U.S. Amateur in 1937.
Born to Lithuanian immigrants in South Omaha, Nebraska, Goodman was orphaned at the ...
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 ...
(writer and producer)
*
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
(actor)
*
Douglas Milsome
Douglas Milsome BSC, ASC (born 1939) is an English cinematographer. A former camera operator for John Alcott on films like ''A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon'', and ''The Shining'', Milsome became a collaborator with director Stanley Kubri ...
(camera assistant and operator)
*
Brian W. Cook
Brian William Cook is a British film director, assistant director, producer and actor.
Career
Cook has worked as a producer and assistant director on five films with Michael Cimino, three films with Stanley Kubrick and three with Sean Penn. His ...
(assistant director)
*
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer.
Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius'', King Richard IV i ...
(actor)
*
Kenneth Cope
Kenneth Charles Cope (born 14 April 1931) is an English retired actor and scriptwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', Jed Stone in ''Coronation Street'' and Ray Hilton in ''Brookside (T ...
(actor)
*
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
(producer and director)
*
Joe Turkel
Joseph Turkel (July 15, 1927 – June 27, 2022) was an American character actor who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films '' The Killing'', ''Pat ...
(actor)
*
Walter Murch
Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. With a career stretching back to 1969, including work on ''THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Godfather I'', '' II'', and '' III'', ''Ame ...
(film and sound editor)
*
Barbara Windsor
Dame Barbara Windsor (born Barbara Ann Deeks; 6 August 193710 December 2020) was an English actress, known for her roles in the ''Carry On'' films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera, ''EastEnders''.
*
Dave Prowse
David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original '' Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanl ...
(actor)
Interviewed for ‘Kubrick Visions’:
*
Christiane Kubrick
Christiane Susanne Kubrick (née Harlan; born 10 May 1932) is a German actress. She was born into a theatrical family (her uncle was the film director Veit Harlan), and was the wife of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick from 1958 until his death in 1999 ...
(Stanley Kubrick's widow)
*
Jan Harlan
Jan Harlan (born 5 May 1937) is a German-American executive producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, director Stanley Kubrick's widow. He is the nephew of the film director Veit Harlan.
Life
Jan Harlan was born in Karlsruhe in 1937, ...
(producer)
*
Tony Palmer
Tony Palmer (born 29 August 1941)IMDb: Tony Palmer Retrieved 24 September 2011 is a British film direc ...