Michael Winner
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Michael Winner (born October 30, 1935 in London, England) is a British film director and producer.
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Early life
He was born into a rich Jewish family — his father was in property, while his mother, a compulsive gambler, lost an estimated £8m — and was educated at a Quaker school and Downing College, Cambridge, where he edited the college's student magazine Varsity.
Films
He learnt his cinematographic skills during early work for the BBC and B-movie features. However he soon shot to prominence as a "hip, young" director in the 1960s best known for his direction of movies such as The System (1964) and I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname (1967), depicting Swinging London. In the 70s, he took on American projects such as the Westerns Lawman (1971) and Chato's Land (1972), and Charles Bronson crime dramas The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer (1973) and Death Wish (1974), the latter causing a storm of controversy over its depiction of vigilante justice but was hugely successful at the box-office.
Winner has unashamedly pursued commercial projects and as a result, his later films are usually greeted with critical scorn. Perhaps the critics are reminded that in I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname Winner's alter ego in the film (an advertising executive played by Oliver Reed) questions the idea of pursuing commerce in art, and the film stands as the director's most personal work. Winner may also be remembered for directing Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers (1972), a reworking of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. His 1978 remake of The Big Sleep, starring Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, is also interesting for following Howard Hawks's original cut of the movie rather than the released version, before the original cut became better known. Winner has worked repeatedly with some of the cinema's best-known actors, among them Michael Crawford, Roger Moore and Charles Bronson.
Winner has also written and produced (or co-produced) the majority of his films, and has also (as "Arnold J. Crust") edited them. This has given Winner a greater degree of control over his work, and also a higher financial return on his more successful films.
Love life
Winner is renowned for his many relationships, enjoying the company of some of the world's most beautiful women, including Joan Collins and Sophia Loren; he also had a six-and-half-year relationship with the actress Jenny Seagrove, who ended the relationship after catching him with another woman. He is, as of June 2005, dating Paula Lombard who is 30 years his junior.
Later life
For some years his work has been seen to be in decline. However, he remains prominent in British public life, well-known for his work as a restaurant critic for UK newspapers and his regular appearances on television shows and advertisements, in particular a series of advertisements for insurance company, esure, which he directed and starred in (often in multiple roles). He now seems to have been replaced by a cartoon mouse who has a New York accent and lives inside a computer "mouse".
Winner takes all
Image:PoliceNationalMemorial2755.jpg On February 26, 2006 in an interview with Michael Parkinson on BBC Radio 2, Winner talked about his autobiography Winner takes all which had just been published in paperback. He described the perhaps uncharacteristic role he played – in the aftermath of the 1984 killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher – in seeking to commemorate police officers killed on duty by persuading the Charity Commission to establish the Police Memorial Trust on May 3, 1984. In the intervening 22 years, 36 local memorials had been erected starting in 1985 with one in St James's Square in London dedicated to WPC Fletcher. The National Police Memorial (opposite St James's Park at the junction of Horse Guards Road and The Mall) was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth on April 26, 2005.
In the same interview, Winner also described how he got along with some of the big screen actors whom he had worked with. He said his friend, the late Marlon Brando, was a "most entertaining man". In return, Brando had once remarked about Winner:
- "He's the only person I've ever met who talks to me as I wish to be talked to."
According to Winner, Orson Welles had a penchant for wearing false noses. And Burt Lancaster once tried to throttle Winner in a disagreement over a scene involving a Winchester rifle and a revolver. In Winner's view the only "old-time star" remaining is Clint Eastwood.
Quotes
- "When I tell people I've slept with more than 130 women, they are appalled but, you know, I've been doing it for 55 years so I don't think that's bad going!"
- "Calm down dear, it's a commercial" — the catchphrase of his Esure adverts.
- "Do you know who I am?" at restaurants — allegedly.
- "God, the truth hurts!" – (when asked by a Daily Telegraph reporter how he would respond to Gordon Ramsay's comment that "Winner knows nothing about food."
- "Don't eat the whole plate" – if you are dieting, or want to slim.
- "Ah, that must be George Best's cremation" – (when shown a picture of the Buncefield Oil Depot Fire whilst appearing as a guest on Have I Got News for You in December 2005, provoking laughter and outrage in equal measure)
Coming soon
On the cards is a television series featuring Winner and his experiences as a customer in hotels and restaurants.
Publications
Winner takes all, autobiography of Michael Winner, Robson Books, 2006 (£8.99)
Filmography
Director
(Selected films)
- 1962 — The Cool Mikado
- 1964 — The System
- 1965 — You Must Be Joking!
- 1966 — The Jokers
- 1967 — I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname
- 1969 — Hannibal Brooks
- 1971 — Lawman
- 1972 — Chato's Land, The Nightcomers, The Mechanic
- 1973 — Scorpio, The Stone Killer
- 1974 — Death Wish
- 1976 — Won Ton Ton-The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
- 1977 — The Sentinel
- 1978 — The Big Sleep
- 1979 — Firepower
- 1983 — The Wicked Lady (remake)
- 1988 — Appointment with Death
- 1989 — A Chorus of Disapproval
- 1990 — Bullseye!
- 1993 — Dirty Weekend
- 1999 — Parting Shots