Clive Donner

British director Clive Donner began his moviemaking career at the tender age of 16 in the cutting rooms of Denham Film Studios. He worked as an assistant editor on three pictures prior to his service in the Royal Navy, after which he returned to Denham to learn a thing or two about cutting film from director David Lean ("The Passionate Friends" 1948 and "Madeleine" 1949), himself a former editor. He moved to Pinewood Studios, establishing himself first as a full-fledged editor on movies like Brian Desmond Hurst's "Scrooge" (1950), Ronald Neame's "The Million Pound Note" (1953) and Henry Cornelius' "I Am a Camera" (1955) before cutting his teeth as a director on low-budgeters (i.e., his debut "The Secret Place" 1956, "Heart of a Child" 1958 and "Marriage of Convenience" 1960). Unprepared to go on churning out such fare, Donner turned to TV, directing episodes of popular series, documentaries and commercials.