Victor Fair (18 March 1938 – 24 February 2017) was an English designer of cinema posters known for his risqué work for low budget 1970s English films.

Early life

Victor Fair was born in

Chadwell Heath Chadwell Heath is an area in east London, England. It is situated on the boundary of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Redbridge, around west of Romford and east of Ilford, and north-east of Charing Cross. ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, on 18 March 1938. His father is noted as being an instrumental industrial designer for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

who died when Victor was aged four. At 16 years old, Victor left school and got a job in London as a messenger boy for the Hector Hughes design agency and attended life drawing classes at St Martin's School of Art in the evening. After Hector Hughes he worked at the Dixons agency.Vic Fair.
''The Times'', 6 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017. In the mid-1950s, Fair started his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

when he served in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

during the

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνο� ...

guerrilla campaign. He could have avoided service, having previously suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and other medical conditions, but saw his enlistment as an opportunity to get away from a

claustrophobic Claustrophobia is the fear of confined spaces. It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with ...

home life with his mother and sister where he was the man of the house as a result of his father's death. One of his jobs in the army was to search villages for weapons but he was more often to be found sketching the natives.

Career

*''

Vampire Circus ''Vampire Circus'' is a 1972 British horror film directed by Robert Young and starring Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters and Anthony Higgins (billed as Anthony Corlan). It was written by Judson Kinberg, and produced by Wilbur Stark and Michae ...

'' (1972) *''

Confessions of a Driving Instructor ''Confessions of a Driving Instructor'' is a 1976 British sex-farce film. This was the third instalment of the ''Confessions'' sequence on the erotic adventures of Timothy Lea, based on the novels published under the name by Christopher Wood. ...

'' (1976)An interview with Vic Fair.
Eddie Shannon, ''Film on Paper'', 2 December 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2017. *''

The Man Who Fell to Earth ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'' is a 1976 British science fiction drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg and written by Paul Mayersberg. Based on Walter Tevis's 1963 novel of the same name, the film follows an extraterrestrial (Thomas Jerome Newt ...

'' (1976)Movie Poster of the Week
Adrian Curry, ''

Mubi (streaming service) Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

'', 16 January 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

Death

Fair died on 24 February 2017 from the effects of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

and

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. He was survived by his wife and two children.

References

External links

*https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/biography-vic-fair *http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2012/11/26/the-poster-art-of-vic-fair/ 1938 births 2017 deaths British poster artists People from Chadwell Heath English graphic designers British Army soldiers British military personnel of the Cyprus Emergency Deaths from dementia in the United Kingdom Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from diabetes Military personnel from Essex Film poster artists {{Artdirector-stub

Early life

Career

Death

See also

References

External links