Fred Burnley (1933–1975) was a British television and film director.

Fred Burnley
Born1933
Died1975
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Television and film director

Life edit

Burnley was educated at The Queen's College, Oxford, where he gained a first-class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He joined Ealing Studios as an assistant on The Ladykillers in 1955, but left after six months to edit TV commercials and documentaries. In 1965 he joined the BBC as director-producer. He directed eight of the Whicker's World series before joining the arts programme Omnibus. His debut for Omnibus was The Dream Divided, on F. Scott Fitzgerald, which was followed by a film biography of Amedeo Modigliani.[1] In 1972 he directed the film Neither the Sea Nor the Sand.

Death edit

Burnley died of lung complications from exposure to bat guano while filming the dramatised documentary Alexander von Humboldt - 1799 for Michael Latham's 1975 BBC2 series The Explorers.[2][3]

References edit

  1. ^ Alan Rosenthal (1972). "The Dream Divided: Fred Burnley". The New Documentary in Action: A Casebook in Film Making. University of California Press. pp. 176–88. ISBN 978-0-520-02254-6.
  2. ^ Geoff Alexander (2013). Films You Saw in School: A Critical Review of 1,153 Classroom Educational Films (1958-1985) in 74 Subject Categories. McFarland. pp. 93–4. ISBN 978-0-7864-7263-5.
  3. ^ 2000 Shows & Notes, Academic Film Archive of North America

External links edit