Peter Morley (filmmaker)
Encyclopedia
Peter Morley, OBE (born 1924) is a German-born British television producer and documentary filmmaker. As a nine-year old child, he fled Nazi Germany
with his elder siblings and moved to England, where he has lived ever since. He has made several documentaries about the Holocaust
, winning several awards, both in England and abroad.
of Germany, plans were put into action. His parents learned that the Landschulheim Herrlingen, a progressive, co-educational school in Ulm
was moving to England and he and his siblings were accepted.
Arriving in England, he and his siblings attended the Bunce Court School
in Otterden
, Kent
. His first documentary film was about the school. Anna Essinger
, a German educator, founded Bunce Court after she realized that the Nazis had turned Germany into a hostile environment for educating children. Moving quickly and discreetly, she relocated her boarding school in the south of Germany, along with its 66 mostly Jewish pupils, to safety in England. The school became Morley's home until 1941 and his first film was a documentary about Bunce Court.
When his brother volunteered for military service, as a "stateless enemy alien
", he was made to change his last name, in case of capture by Germans. His brother arbitrarily picked the name "Morley" and Peter followed suit. The Morley brothers fought with the 8th Hussars, a British tank division, toward the end of the war. Morley became a naturalized British citizen in June 1947.
, Sir Arthur Elton told Morley, "You will never make a career in the film industry as I cannot detect one spark of talent.”Morley faced a problem of needing a union card to get a job and a job to get a union card. As a result, his first civilian job after the war was as a projectionist, making £5 a week. The job was with the Film Producers Guild
, a collective of documentary film companies and became his introduction to both the process of and people in filmmaking. Using a 16mm
magazine
Cine-Kodak
he had acquired by barter
in Berlin, July 1945, Morley produced a film about Bunce Court, shortly before the school closed. Called Once Upon a Time, the film won a special commendation from the board of Amateur Cine World, and 50 years later, provided archival footage for U.S. and German documentaries about the 1939 Kindertransport
and related topics. It was not until 1950 that Morley was finally able to break into the industry, but he had to accept a demotion to "tea boy" and his wages, which had risen to £7 a week, were cut to £4. The job did eventually lead to a job in film editing and a union card.
Morley became a television producer in England, working for Yorkshire Television
in television's infancy. Programmes were turned around quickly, from inception to production and broadcast. In February 1959, Morley and former Fleet Street
journalist Cyril Bennett interviewed Paula Hitler
, as well as Hitler's adjutant, chauffeur and pilot, the only interviews they ever gave. At that time, with much of Germany and London still in ruins from the war, neither Morley nor Bennett had ever seen a programme about Hitler. The interview with Hitler's sister was included in Tyranny: The Years of Adolf Hitler, which was seen by 10 million people. Following that success, Morley made films on a variety of topics, including an original studio production of Benjamin Britten
's opera, Turn of the Screw, a film about life in post-war Japan, another about the work of members of the London Symphony Orchestra
and in 1964, a documentary about racially-mixed marriages, a very controversial subject at the time. He went on to direct the BAFTA-winning television coverage of the state funeral
of Sir Winston Churchill
and the "monumental" television series The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten
.
In 1978, Morley produced the award-winning Women of Courage about four women who risked their lives to save others during the Nazi era, Hiltgunt Zassenhaus
, a German; Sigrid Helliesen Lund
, a Norwegian pacifist; Mary Lindell
, an Englishwoman and Maria Rutkiewicz
, a Pole. In 1978, he also produced Kitty - Return to Auschwitz about Kitty Hart
's return to Auschwitz, which won six awards from different countries.
Morley published his autobiography, A Life Rewound: Memoirs Of A Freelance Producer And Director in book form in November 2010.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
with his elder siblings and moved to England, where he has lived ever since. He has made several documentaries about the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, winning several awards, both in England and abroad.
Early years
Born Peter Meyer to Jewish parents, Alice and Willy Meyer, a wholesaler and exporter in Germany. He fled the Nazis in 1933 at the age of nine with his brother, Tommy and sister, Anne. His parents had already decided the family should leave Germany, but when Adolf Hitler was made chancellorChancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
of Germany, plans were put into action. His parents learned that the Landschulheim Herrlingen, a progressive, co-educational school in Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
was moving to England and he and his siblings were accepted.
Arriving in England, he and his siblings attended the Bunce Court School
Bunce Court School
The Bunce Court School was an independent, private boarding school in the village of Otterden, in Kent, England. It was founded in 1933 by Anna Essinger, who had previously founded a boarding school, Landschulheim Herrlingen in the south of Germany, but after the Nazi Party seized power in 1933,...
in Otterden
Otterden
Otterden is a village on the Kent Downs in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England.-History:Otterden is mentioned in the Domesday Book under Kent in the lands belonging to Adam FitzHubert...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. His first documentary film was about the school. Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger was a German-Jewish educator. At the age of 20, she went to finish her education in the United States, where she encountered Quakers and was greatly influenced by their attitudes, adopting them for her own...
, a German educator, founded Bunce Court after she realized that the Nazis had turned Germany into a hostile environment for educating children. Moving quickly and discreetly, she relocated her boarding school in the south of Germany, along with its 66 mostly Jewish pupils, to safety in England. The school became Morley's home until 1941 and his first film was a documentary about Bunce Court.
When his brother volunteered for military service, as a "stateless enemy alien
Enemy alien
In law, an enemy alien is a citizen of a country which is in a state of conflict with the land in which he or she is located. Usually, but not always, the countries are in a state of declared war.-United Kingdom:...
", he was made to change his last name, in case of capture by Germans. His brother arbitrarily picked the name "Morley" and Peter followed suit. The Morley brothers fought with the 8th Hussars, a British tank division, toward the end of the war. Morley became a naturalized British citizen in June 1947.
Career
In one of Morley's first job interviews trying to break into the film industryFilm industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
, Sir Arthur Elton told Morley, "You will never make a career in the film industry as I cannot detect one spark of talent.”Morley faced a problem of needing a union card to get a job and a job to get a union card. As a result, his first civilian job after the war was as a projectionist, making £5 a week. The job was with the Film Producers Guild
Film Producers Guild
The Film Producers Guild was a collective of documentary film companies in England. It was formed in August 1944 and had offices and screening facilities on Upper St. Martin's Lane, in London. They owned Merton Park Studios in south London....
, a collective of documentary film companies and became his introduction to both the process of and people in filmmaking. Using a 16mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
magazine
Camera magazine
A camera magazine is a light-tight chamber or pair of chambers designed to hold and move motion picture film stock before and after it has been exposed in the camera...
Cine-Kodak
Cine-Kodak
The Cine-Kodak was the first 16mm camera, introduced in 1923. It was a rectangular cast aluminum box approximately 8 inches square, and was cranked by hand at two turns per second to achieve the necessary 16 frames per second. Hand turning meant that a tripod was essential while allowing...
he had acquired by barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
in Berlin, July 1945, Morley produced a film about Bunce Court, shortly before the school closed. Called Once Upon a Time, the film won a special commendation from the board of Amateur Cine World, and 50 years later, provided archival footage for U.S. and German documentaries about the 1939 Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
and related topics. It was not until 1950 that Morley was finally able to break into the industry, but he had to accept a demotion to "tea boy" and his wages, which had risen to £7 a week, were cut to £4. The job did eventually lead to a job in film editing and a union card.
Morley became a television producer in England, working for Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
in television's infancy. Programmes were turned around quickly, from inception to production and broadcast. In February 1959, Morley and former Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
journalist Cyril Bennett interviewed Paula Hitler
Paula Hitler
Paula Hitler was the younger sister of Adolf Hitler and the last child of Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pölzl...
, as well as Hitler's adjutant, chauffeur and pilot, the only interviews they ever gave. At that time, with much of Germany and London still in ruins from the war, neither Morley nor Bennett had ever seen a programme about Hitler. The interview with Hitler's sister was included in Tyranny: The Years of Adolf Hitler, which was seen by 10 million people. Following that success, Morley made films on a variety of topics, including an original studio production of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's opera, Turn of the Screw, a film about life in post-war Japan, another about the work of members of the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
and in 1964, a documentary about racially-mixed marriages, a very controversial subject at the time. He went on to direct the BAFTA-winning television coverage of the state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
of Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and the "monumental" television series The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
.
In 1978, Morley produced the award-winning Women of Courage about four women who risked their lives to save others during the Nazi era, Hiltgunt Zassenhaus
Hiltgunt Zassenhaus
Hiltgunt Margret Zassenhaus was a German philologist who worked as an interpreter in Hamburg, Germany during World War II, and later as a physician in the United States. She was honoured for her efforts to aid prisoners in Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early life:Hiltgunt Zassenhaus was born...
, a German; Sigrid Helliesen Lund
Sigrid Helliesen Lund
Sigrid Helliesen Lund was a Norwegian peace activist, noted for her humanitarian efforts throughout most of the 20th century, and in particular her resistance to the occupation of Norway during World War II.-Biography:...
, a Norwegian pacifist; Mary Lindell
Mary Lindell
Mary Lindell , also known as the Comtesse de Milleville, the Comtesse de Moncy and Marie-Claire was a British-born nurse who lived in France and worked independently against the Nazis during World War II. During the First World War, she served as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment and...
, an Englishwoman and Maria Rutkiewicz
Maria Rutkiewicz
Maria Rutkiewicz was a Polish communist and an editor. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, she was a radio operator with the Polish resistance.- Early years and World War II :...
, a Pole. In 1978, he also produced Kitty - Return to Auschwitz about Kitty Hart
Kitty Hart-Moxon
Kitty Hart-Moxon OBE is a Polish-English Holocaust survivor. She was sent to the Auschwitz labour camp in 1943 at the age of 16, where she survived for two years, and was also imprisoned at other camps...
's return to Auschwitz, which won six awards from different countries.
Morley published his autobiography, A Life Rewound: Memoirs Of A Freelance Producer And Director in book form in November 2010.
Awards
- 1963 This WeekThis Week (ITV TV series)This Week was a weekly current affairs series first produced for ITV in January 1956 by Associated-Rediffusion , running until 1978, when it was replaced by TV Eye...
— 1963 BAFTA Current Affairs Award - 1965 ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
State Funeral — BAFTA Outside Broadcasts Award - 1965 Churchill State Funeral — Cannes Grand Prix
- 1969 The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten — Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television SocietyThe Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
Silver Medal - 1973 The Mighty Continent — Columbia Film Festival Award
- 1978 Women of Courage — Sapporo Documentary Award
- 1978 Kitty - Return to Auschwitz — Royal Television Society Documentary Award, Commonwealth Film & Television Award
- 1981 Kitty - Return to Auschwitz — Berlin Prix Futura, Clarion Award - Best U.S. Network Program
- 1985 Kitty - Return to Auschwitz — World Television Tokyo Prize
External links
- Biography of Peter Morley Screenonline. Retrieved September 29, 2011
- Brief description of Peter Morley's memoirs British Academy of Film and Television Arts (October 1, 2010). Retrieved September 29, 2011
- Richard Welbirg, Biography of Peter Morley Ham&High, Hampstead and Highgate. (April 28, 2011). Retrieved October 7, 2010