Alexander Mackendrick facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alexander Mackendrick
Born	(1912-09-08)September 8, 1912 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	December 22, 1993(1993-12-22) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Film director
Spouse(s)	Eileen Ashcroft (1934–1943) Hilary Lloyd (1948–1993)

Alexander Mackendrick (born September 8, 1912 – died December 22, 1993) was a famous American-Scottish film director and teacher. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Later, he moved to Scotland.

Mackendrick started his career making TV commercials. Then, he moved into editing and directing movies. He is best known for his work at Ealing Studios. Some of his most famous films from that time include Whisky Galore! (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), and The Ladykillers (1955).

After directing his first American film, Sweet Smell of Success (1957), his career as a director slowed down. He then became the Dean (head) of the CalArts School of Film/Video in California, where he taught filmmaking. He was also the cousin of the Scottish writer Roger MacDougall.

Alexander Mackendrick's Early Life

Alexander Mackendrick was born on September 8, 1912. He was the only child of Francis and Martha Mackendrick. His parents had moved to the United States from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1911. His father worked as a ship builder and engineer.

When Alexander was six years old, his father died from the flu pandemic that spread around the world after World War I. His mother, Martha, needed to find work. She decided to become a dress designer. To do this, she had to send Alexander to live with his grandfather. His grandfather took young Alexander back to Scotland when he was seven. Alexander never saw or heard from his mother again.

Mackendrick had a sad and lonely childhood. He went to Hillhead High School from 1919 to 1926. After that, he spent three years studying at the Glasgow School of Art.

In the early 1930s, Mackendrick moved to London. He worked as an art director for an advertising company called J. Walter Thompson. Between 1936 and 1938, he wrote scripts for five cinema commercials. He later said that his work in advertising was very helpful, even though he really disliked the industry. Mackendrick wrote his first film script with his cousin and close friend, Roger MacDougall. A film company bought it, and it was later released as Midnight Menace (1937).

When World War II started, Mackendrick worked for the Minister of Information. He helped make British films that aimed to influence public opinion. In 1942, he went to Algiers and then to Italy. He worked with the Psychological Warfare Division, which used communication to affect people's minds. He filmed newsreels, made documentaries, created leaflets, and worked on radio news. In 1943, he became the director of the film unit. He even approved the making of Roberto Rossellini's early neorealist film, Rome, Open City (1945).

Working at Ealing Studios

After World War II, Mackendrick and Roger MacDougall started their own company, Merlin Productions. They made documentaries for the Ministry of Information. However, their company did not make enough money to continue.

In 1946, Mackendrick joined Ealing Studios. This was a very famous British film studio. He started as a scriptwriter and production designer. He worked there for nine years. During this time, he directed five films:

• Whisky Galore! (1949)
• The Man in the White Suit (1951)
• Mandy (1952)
• The Maggie (1954)
• The Ladykillers (1955)

The first two and the last film are some of the most well-known movies from Ealing Studios.

Moving to the United States

Mackendrick often said he disliked the film industry. In 1955, he decided to leave the United Kingdom for Hollywood. When Ealing Studios was sold that year, Mackendrick became a freelance director. He was not ready for this.

He once said that at Ealing, he was "spoiled" because he didn't have to worry about money or other problems. He just had to make the films they told him to make. He found teaching much happier because in Hollywood, you had to be good at making deals, and he wasn't. He realized he was in the "wrong business" and left.

For the rest of his life, he traveled between London and Los Angeles. His first film after moving back to the U.S. was Sweet Smell of Success (1957). This film was about a press agent (Tony Curtis) who gets involved in a powerful newspaper writer's (Burt Lancaster) plan to break up his sister's relationship with a jazz musician. Critics liked the film.

However, Mackendrick did not get along well with the film's producers. They thought he was too much of a perfectionist. After Sweet Smell of Success, he went back to England to make another film, The Devil's Disciple (1959). But he was fired a month into filming because of the problems from their first movie. This made Mackendrick very upset. Around the same time, he helped a Dutch filmmaker, Bert Haanstra, with the comedy film Fanfare (1958).

After his disappointment, Mackendrick directed several TV commercials in Europe. He was also replaced as director on the film The Guns of Navarone. This was because he spent too much time looking for filming locations and wanted to include parts of ancient Greek literature in the script.

He also made a few more films in the 1960s, including Sammy Going South (1963), A High Wind in Jamaica (1965), and Don't Make Waves (1967). Sammy Going South was shown at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. A plan to film a play called Rhinoceros did not happen at the last minute.

In 1969, he returned to the United States. He became the Dean of the film school at the California Institute of the Arts. He left this position in 1978 to become a professor at the school. Many of his students became successful filmmakers and producers.

Mackendrick suffered from a serious lung disease called emphysema for many years. Because of this, he could not travel back to Europe often. He stayed at the school until he died from pneumonia in 1993, at the age of 81. He is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Mackendrick's Filmmaking Ideas

Alexander Mackendrick had strong ideas about how to make films.

On Acting

He believed that directors should understand acting from the actor's point of view. He said, "I've focused most of my energy on this program, which I like very much. It's about understanding the make-believe of acting and working with actors. It requires people who will work behind the camera to also be in front of the camera. It makes directors learn about working with actors by being actors themselves. They need to know what it feels like to be in an actor's shoes."

On Writing

Mackendrick thought that imagination was key for writers. He explained, "Imagination is about creating images. For dramatic writing, it means being able to see a scene from one character's view, then switch to another character's view. Without this playful way of changing viewpoints, someone won't have the drive to become a dramatic writer."

On Directing

He felt it was very important for directors to try acting themselves. He said, "It is really important for a director, who will work with actors, to have tried acting. They need to learn the problems of an actor from the inside, from the actor's point of view, not just the director's. Because you will learn things there, things you must never do to an actor again. I think directors who are not sensitive to their performers are truly bad directors."

How to Get Actors to Do What You Want

A student once kept asking him, "How do you get an actor to do what you want?" After some thought, he replied, "You don't. You get an actor to want what you need. What the director must do is encourage the actor to be what the director needs them to be. There's a simple reason for this.

"As a director, you fall in love with the actor in the role. I mean, in the role. You have to become so completely fond of the actor when they are playing the role, as you imagine it. If the actor moves away from the role, you, consciously or unconsciously, dim your love for them. The actor then feels cold and moves back into your love. It's like emotional encouragement, for a very good reason. So, before you can control an actor, you must control yourself and your own feelings."

Filmography

Director

• Whisky Galore! (1949)
• The Man in the White Suit (1951)
• Mandy (1952)
  • Also known as Story of Mandy and Crash of Silence in the USA
• The Maggie (1954)
  • Also known as High and Dry in the USA
• The Ladykillers (1955)
• Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• Sammy Going South (1963)
  • Also known as A Boy Ten Feet Tall in the USA
• A High Wind in Jamaica (1965)
• Don't Make Waves (1967)

Writer

• Midnight Menace (1937)
• Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948)
• Dance Hall (1950)

See also

In Spanish: Alexander Mackendrick para niños