English film producer
Tony Tenser
|
---|
Born
| Samuel Anthony Tenser
(
1920-08-10
)
10 August 1920
|
---|
Died
| 5 December 2007
(2007-12-05)
(aged 87)
|
---|
Nationality
| British
|
---|
Years active
| 1961?2007
|
---|
Samuel Anthony Tenser
(10 August 1920 ? 5 December 2007)
[1]
was an English-born film producer of
Lithuanian-Jewish
descent. He began as the producer of low budget
exploitation films
before moving into mainstream productions.
Life and career
[
edit
]
Raised in a tenement in
Shoreditch
, with the family doing piecework for local tailors, Tenser was one of seven children.
[2]
After war service as a technician in the
Royal Air Force
, he became a trainee manager for the
ABC Cinemas
circuit.
[3]
Working as head of publicity for Miracle Films,
[4]
Tenser coined the term "sex kitten" for the French movie star
Brigitte Bardot
when
The Light Across the Street
(
La lumiere d'en face
, 1955) was released in the UK.
[3]
In 1960, with business partner
Michael Klinger
, he opened the Compton Cinema Club, a private members club. Initially the distributors of foreign films, they diversified into production in partnership with the owners of the Cameo chain of cinema, and founded Compton Cameo Films. The first film of the new company was
Naked as Nature Intended
(1961), a nudist film.
[4]
Tenser and Klinger established the Compton Group as a vehicle for their film-making ambitious, and amongst their early productions were
Repulsion
(1965) and
Cul-de-sac
(1966), the first two films in English made by the Polish director
Roman Polanski
. Tenser left the Group in 1966 and founded his own production company
Tigon British Film Productions
in 1966, which made other mainstream films such as
Michael Reeves
' two features
The Sorcerers
(1966) and
Witchfinder General
(1967), as well as other horror films. After production of
The Creeping Flesh
(1973) concluded, Tenser resigned from Tigon.
[1]
Following his last film as executive producer,
Frightmare
(1974), he retired from the film industry.
[3]
With his much younger third wife, he settled in Southport in 1978;
[1]
the couple later separated, and Tenser spent his last years in a care home opposite the house he had shared with his wife.
[2]
Tenser's career as a film producer was extensively documented in the book
Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser
published by Fab Press in 2005 and well received by reviewers in
The New York Times
and
The Independent
. The book was written by film critic John Hamilton, who conducted over 18 hours of taped conversations with Tenser, as well as exclusive interviews with many of the actors and craftsmen he employed, including: the directors
Michael Armstrong
,
Peter Sasdy
,
Freddie Francis
and
Vernon Sewell
; and actors
Christopher Lee
,
Spike Milligan
,
Julie Ege
and
Norman Wisdom
. Hamilton also had access to original production files and correspondence.
Select Credits
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Beasts in the Cellar : The Exploitation film career of Tony Tenser.
by John Hamilton, Fab Press, 2005.
- Tigon: Blood on a Budget.
John Hamilton, Hemlock Books 2015.
- Naked as Nature Intended: The Epic Tale of a Nudist Picture
. Suffolk & Watt, 2013,
ISBN
9780954598594
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|