Key Information
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Mackendrick, Alexander
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Description area
Dates of existence
1912-1993
History
The son of a Glasgow ship builder who had emigrated to the USA, after his father died in the Spanish Flu pandemic following WW1 Mackendrick moved to Glasgow to be brought up by his grandfather. He attended Hillhead High School then enrolled at the GSA in 1926. During three years at Art School he won several minor Travelling Bursaries.
In the early 1930s, MacKendrick moved to London to work as an art director for the advertising firm J. Walter Thompson where he produced cinema commercials. He wrote his first film script with his cousin, Roger MacDougall which was bought and released by Associated British Picture Corporation. During WW2, he made propaganda films for the Ministry of Information. In 1946 Mackendrick joined Ealing Studios as a scriptwriter and production designer, working there for nine years and directing five films, including "Whisky Galore!" and "The Ladykillers". In 1955 he moved to Hollywood, directing "Sweet Smell of Success" and other films and TV commercials in the USA and Europe. In 1969 he became Dean of the Film School of the California Institute of the Arts, giving up the position in 1978 to become a professor at the school.
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Script(s)
Sources
- GSA records
- www.screenonline.org.uk