Ken Annakin

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
name = Ken Annakin
birthdate = August 10, 1914
birthplace = Beverley, Yorkshire UK
deathdate =
deathplace =
othername =
occupation = Film director
yearsactive = 1941 - 1992
imdb_id = 0002175

Ken Annakin, OBE (born August 10, 1914 in Beverley, Yorkshire) is an English film director. His career in films followed his work experience in documentaries. He made his directing debut in 1947 at the Rank Organisation, although the following year he moved to Gainsborough Pictures to helm three films about the Huggetts, a working class family living in suburban England. Annakin became known for a series of Walt Disney adventures including "The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men" (1952), "The Sword and the Rose" (1953) and "Swiss Family Robinson" (1960).

He was later associated with another American producer, Darryl F. Zanuck, when he was hired to direct the British segments in "The Longest Day". As head of the 20th Century-Fox Studio, Zanuck endorsed Annakin's most ambitious project "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965). He also directed the big-scale war film "Battle of the Bulge" (also 1965) for the Warner Brothers studio.

However, some of Annakin's better received films are smaller-scale comedies and dramas, including his episodes in "Quartet" (1948) and "Trio" (1950), based on Somerset Maugham's stories, "Hotel Sahara" (1951), "Across the Bridge" (1957), "Crooks Anonymous" (1962), "The Fast Lady" (1963) and "The Informers" (1963).

His last theatrical motion picture was "The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking" (1988).

He is a friend of George Lucas, and as such, was used by Lucas as the source of the name for Anakin Skywalker in "Star Wars".

Filmography

* "West Riding" (1946)
* "It Began on the Clyde" (1946)
* "Fenlands" (1946)
* "Holiday Camp" (1947)
* "Miranda" (1948)
* "Broken Journey" (1948)
* "Quartet" (1948)
* "Here Come the Huggetts" (1948)
* "Vote for Huggett" (1949)
* "The Huggetts Abroad" (1949)
* "Landfall" (1949)
* "Double Confession" (1950)
* "Hotel Sahara" (1951)
* "The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men" (1952)
* "The Planter's Wife" (1952)
* "The Sword and the Rose" (1953)
* "You Know What Sailors Are" (1954)
* "The Seekers" (1954)
* "Value for Money" (1955)
* "Loser Takes All" (1956)
* "Three Men in a Boat" (1956)
* "Across the Bridge" (1957)
* "Nor the Moon by Night" (1958)
* "Third Man on the Mountain" (1959)
* "Swiss Family Robinson" (1960)
* "Very Important Person" (1961)
* "The Hellions" (1961)
* "The Fast Lady" (1962)
* "The Longest Day" (1962)
* "Crooks Anonymous" (1962)
* "The Informers" (1963)
* "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965)
* "Battle of the Bulge" (1965)
* "The Long Duel" (1967)
* "The Biggest Bundle of Them All" (1968)
* "Monte Carlo or Bust!" (1969)
* "The Call of the Wild" (1972)
* "Paper Tiger" (1975)
* "The Fifth Musketeer" (1979)
* "Cheaper to Keep Her" (1981)
* "The Pirate Movie" (1982)
* "The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking" (1988)
* "Gengis Khan" (1992)
* "" (2002)

External links

*
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/479412/index.html Ken Annakin biography at BFI Screenonline]

Persondata
NAME= Annakin, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Film director
DATE OF BIRTH= August 10, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH= Beverley, Yorkshire UK
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=