Carol Reed
Carol Reed was the first British film director ever to be knighted. Born in 1906, Reed’s father was one of the most famous actors of the day, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (the original Henry Higgins); his mother was Tree’s mistress, May Pinney Reed. Carol Reed made his stage debut in 1924 as an actor, before focusing more and more on behind the scenes work for Edgar Wallace’s company beginning in 1927. Wallace’s company was well known for detective thrillers. Reed then jumped to film, staying behind the camera: Talk of the Devil (1936), the first film to be shot at Pinewood Studios; The Stars Look Down (1939) with Michael Redgrave; Night Train to Munich (1940); The True Glory (1945), Odd Man Out (1947), and The Fallen Idol (1948) from the work of Graham Greene. Working with Greene, Reed’s The Third Man (1949) made film history as one of the most tightly constructed and directed thrillers ever. Reed’s other films include Outcast of the Islands (1952), The Man Between (1953), A Kid for Two Farthings (1955); his first color film, Trapeze (1956) with Burt Lancaster, The Key (1958), Our Man in Havana (1959) which was shot in Cuba during the revolution, with Castro visiting the set, and The Agony and The Ecstasy (1965) with Charlton Heston. Reed’s Oliver! (1968) won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, and was the first filmed musical to be more successful than the original. His last two films were Flap (1970) and The Public Eye (1972). Reed died in 1976.
