Producer of award-winning documentaries and short films
The producer Anne Balfour-Fraser, who has died aged 92, oversaw the making of some 100 short films between the mid-1950s and mid-80s. Very varied, their common thread was an artistic, humanitarian sensibility and a sensitive cultivation of directing, camera and editing talent. Among those who at some point worked at her premises in Brewer Street, London, were Kevin Brownlow, John Krish, Mamoun Hassan, Peter K Smith, the German theatre director Peter Zadek and the eminent producer of Polanski and others, Timothy Burrill.
She was born in Woking, Surrey, into an illustrious family. Her grandfather was the Conservative politician Gerald Balfour, who succeeded as Earl of Balfour on the death of his brother Arthur, the Conservative prime minister; her grandmother Lady Betty (nee Bulwer-Lytton) was a leading moderate suffragist; and her great-aunt was the more militant suffragist Lady Constance Lytton, who was imprisoned several times.
The producer Anne Balfour-Fraser, who has died aged 92, oversaw the making of some 100 short films between the mid-1950s and mid-80s. Very varied, their common thread was an artistic, humanitarian sensibility and a sensitive cultivation of directing, camera and editing talent. Among those who at some point worked at her premises in Brewer Street, London, were Kevin Brownlow, John Krish, Mamoun Hassan, Peter K Smith, the German theatre director Peter Zadek and the eminent producer of Polanski and others, Timothy Burrill.
She was born in Woking, Surrey, into an illustrious family. Her grandfather was the Conservative politician Gerald Balfour, who succeeded as Earl of Balfour on the death of his brother Arthur, the Conservative prime minister; her grandmother Lady Betty (nee Bulwer-Lytton) was a leading moderate suffragist; and her great-aunt was the more militant suffragist Lady Constance Lytton, who was imprisoned several times.
- 8/21/2016
- by Patrick Russell
- The Guardian - Film News
Versatile actor at Berlin's Schaubühne theatre who made films with Wim Wenders and Eric Rohmer
The German actor Otto Sander, who has died aged 72 after suffering from cancer, made his name as one of the members of Peter Stein's Schaubühne theatre in Berlin, where he developed a versatile but precise stage presence that he brought to all kinds of roles. Sander also had more than 100 credits in film and TV productions, most notably Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (The Boat, 1981), as a drunk and disillusioned U-boat captain, and Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, 1987), as one of the two angels in Wim Wenders's magical survey of the divided city.
Born in Hanover, Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated from the Friederichsgymnasium in 1961. He did his military service as a naval reserve officer. In 1965, in his first engagement at the Düsseldorf Kammerspiele, he showed a natural...
The German actor Otto Sander, who has died aged 72 after suffering from cancer, made his name as one of the members of Peter Stein's Schaubühne theatre in Berlin, where he developed a versatile but precise stage presence that he brought to all kinds of roles. Sander also had more than 100 credits in film and TV productions, most notably Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (The Boat, 1981), as a drunk and disillusioned U-boat captain, and Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, 1987), as one of the two angels in Wim Wenders's magical survey of the divided city.
Born in Hanover, Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated from the Friederichsgymnasium in 1961. He did his military service as a naval reserve officer. In 1965, in his first engagement at the Düsseldorf Kammerspiele, he showed a natural...
- 9/13/2013
- by Hugh Rorrison
- The Guardian - Film News
Actor best known for her nuanced portrayal of a faded screen idol in Veronika Voss, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
According to the German actor and writer Peter Berling, the most important thing for the director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was "to surround himself with people who needed him for their own survival … from the beginning he wanted to create a 'family', something he himself never had". One devoted member of this family was Rosel Zech, who has died of bone cancer aged 69.
Sadly, Veronika Voss (1982), in which Zech became a Fassbinder star, was the director's penultimate film, released less than four months before his death, at the age of 37, of a drug overdose. "I never felt so comfortable with any other director," Zech declared. "We were just at the beginning and had many plans together." One of these was a biopic of the writer and activist Rosa Luxemburg, the uncompleted...
According to the German actor and writer Peter Berling, the most important thing for the director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was "to surround himself with people who needed him for their own survival … from the beginning he wanted to create a 'family', something he himself never had". One devoted member of this family was Rosel Zech, who has died of bone cancer aged 69.
Sadly, Veronika Voss (1982), in which Zech became a Fassbinder star, was the director's penultimate film, released less than four months before his death, at the age of 37, of a drug overdose. "I never felt so comfortable with any other director," Zech declared. "We were just at the beginning and had many plans together." One of these was a biopic of the writer and activist Rosa Luxemburg, the uncompleted...
- 9/5/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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