John Hawkesworth (producer)

Infobox Person
name = John Hawkesworth


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1920|12|7|df=y
birth_place = London, England
death_date = death date and age|2003|9|30|1920|12|7|df=y
death_place = Leicester, Leicestershire, England
occupation = Television producer, Screenwriter
spouse =

John Hawkesworth (7 December 1920 – 30 September 2003) was an English television and film producer and writer best known for his work on the period drama "Upstairs, Downstairs".

Early life

Hawkesworth was born in London in 1920. He was educated at Rugby, the Sorbonne and Oxford University. In the late 1940s, following active service in World War II, Hawkesworth began his film career as an assistant to art director Vincent Korda. He worked on films such as "The Third Man", "Outcast of the Islands" and "The Sound Barrier".

Career

By the mid 1950s, Hawkesworth was an independent designer, and films he worked on included "The Prisoner". He soon joined Rank as a trainee producer, and qualified as an associate producer while working on the 1957 film "Windom's Way". For the 1959 film "Tiger Bay", he was the producer and wrote the screenplay. In the mid 1960s, he began to work for television, and he wrote the scripts for programmes including "The Hidden Truth", "The Short Stories of Conan Doyle" and "The Gold Robbers".

After Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins came up with an idea for a period comedy featuring two maids, Hawkesworth, along with John Whitney, turned the idea into the success that became "Upstairs, Downstairs". He went on to produce 65 out of the 68 episodes from 1971 to 1975. He also wrote 12 episodes and some of the novelisations. Following this, he produced the BBC drama "The Duchess of Duke Street", and created as well as produced the 1979 Euston Films series "Danger UXB" for Thames Television. During the 1980s, he produced many television programmes including "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "Oscar".

Later years

Hawkesworth's final work was writing the screenplay for the 1992 comedy-drama "Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris". He was married to Hyacinthe and they had two children. In his retirement, he spent much time painting. He died in Leicester in 2003 aged 82.

References

*John Hawkesworth, "In My Lady's Chamber", Sphere Books Limited, 1973
*Richard Marson, "Inside UpDown - The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs", Kaleidoscope Publishing, 2005

External links

*imdb name|id=0370058|name=John Hawkesworth
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/901772/ John Hawkesworth at BFI ScreenOnline]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2003/10/19/john_hawkesworth_a_british_film_and_television_writer_at_82?mode=PF Obituary at "The Boston Globe"]