Tony Owen (May 2, 1907 – May 12, 1984) was an American agent and producer, who was married to Donna Reed.
Biography
Owen was born in Chicago and worked in that city as a journalist. In the late 1930s he produced game programs for the
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
, and in 1940 became a vice president of the football club.
He served in the army during the war, but was invalided out. He moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and got work as an agent.
He married Donna Reed in 1945 and they would go on to have four children (two were adopted).
Todon Productions
Owen and Reed formed their own company, Todon Productions. Owen moved into film production with '' Duel in the Jungle'' (1953). It established a formula of using two American leads, an American director, and 80% British crew, to qualify for the subsidies of being a British film and because it was cheaper to make. "As an independent I can give everybody a percentage", said Owen. "This includes a star who will take a cut in lieu of his regular salary of say, $300,000." Owen added that "I believe the American public loves seeing foreign backgrounds. They're a definite plus value."
''Duel in the Jungle'' made $3 million. This launched Todon on a series of films.
He followed it with two films directed by Ken Hughes and distributed by Allied Artists: '' Little Red Monkey'' (1955), with Richard Conte, and '' Timeslip'' (1955) with Gene Nelson and Faith Domergue.
Then came '' Portrait of Alison'' (1956) with Terry Moore directed by Guy Green; '' Dial 999'' (1956), with Gene Nelson directed by Montgomery Tully; and '' The Intimate Stranger'' (1956) with Richard Basehart and Mary Murphy.
In 1956 a report said Todon was "perhaps the biggest Anglo-American company next to Warwick." As he made ''
Beyond Mombasa
''Beyond Mombasa'' is a 1956 British/American Technicolor adventure film starring Cornel Wilde and Donna Reed. It was directed by George Marshall, set in Kenya and filmed there and at a London studio.
Plot
Matt Campbell (Cornel Wilde) arrives i ...
'' Owen said he'd produced six films and "all of them stink but they made money... But not the final one I made with my wife. In fact, this is the first one I've done that isn't lousy – and I'm worried."
"I'm no genius", he said later. "I just wanted to make commercial films."
In May 1956 Owen said Todon would make eight films with an overall budget of $9,250,000.
That month it was announced
Maxwell Setton
Maxwell Setton (born 24 October 1909, date of death unknown) was a British film producer, notably active in the 1950s.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 688-689; ...
would run the company in London, to make six films, starting with ''The Nylon Web'' which became '' Town on Trial''. Others included '' The Long Haul'' (1957) with Victor Mature and Diana Dors, directed by Hughes; ''
I Was Monty's Double
''I Was Monty's Double'' (released in the US as ''The Counterfeit General Montgomery''John Guillermin;
Owen said "the last one ilmdied the death of a dog at the box office. So I came back and started working in television."
Owen developed a series for his wife where she would play the secretary of the Secretary of State. A number of scripts were written but they did not feel confident, and eventually developed a show where Reed played the wife of a pediatrician. This became the hugely successful '' The Donna Reed Show''.
The Case of the Red Monkey
''Little Red Monkey'', released in the United States as ''Case of the Red Monkey'', is a 1955 British crime film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Richard Conte, Rona Anderson and Russell Napier. Detectives from Scotland Yard investigate a ...
'' (1955) a.k.a. ''Little Red Monkey''
*'' Timeslip'' (1955) a.k.a. ''The Atomic Man
*'' Postmark for Danger'' (1955) a.k.a. ''Portrait of Alison''
*'' Dial 999'' (1955) a.k.a. ''The Way Out''
*'' Finger of Guilt'' (1956) a.k.a. ''The Intimate Stranger''
*''
Beyond Mombasa
''Beyond Mombasa'' is a 1956 British/American Technicolor adventure film starring Cornel Wilde and Donna Reed. It was directed by George Marshall, set in Kenya and filmed there and at a London studio.
Plot
Matt Campbell (Cornel Wilde) arrives i ...
*''Twist of Night'' (1956) from a book by Roger McDermott
*''The Man Inside'' (1956) from a novel bu
Victor Canning
Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. ...
*''The Last Pursuit'' (1956)
*''It's Not Cricket'' (1956) by Lawrence Brollings
*''Wherever You Are'' (1956) by Stirling Silliphant to star Reed and Rosanno Brazzi
*''The Unhappy Warrior'' (1957) with Van Johnson
*''The Eddie Calvert Story'' (1956)
*''Wherever You Are'' (1957) – a drama of "transplanted eyes"
*biopic of
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...