Terence YOUNG

Terence Young enjoyed a lengthy career as a solidly proficient director of mainstream entertainment films but preserves a special niche in the history of British cinema for his central involvement in the creation of the long-running series of James Bond films. He was born in Shanghai, China on 20 June 1915, studied at Cambridge and entered the industry as a scriptwriter in 1936. After service as a paratrooper during the Second World War (he was wounded at Arnhem), he made his directorial debut with Corridor of Mirrors in 1948, a psychological melodrama featuring Eric Portman. He quickly established himself as a safe pair of hands in a variety of genres ranging from war adventures like They Were Not Divided (1950) and The Red Beret (1953) to musical comedy with One Night With You (1948), period solemnities in That Lady (1955) and imperial heroics with Storm Over the Nile (1955).

Little of Young's work from the 1950s is of any lasting interest, although the ‘social problem’ film Serious Charge (1959) handled the topical issue of homosexuality with restraint and thoughtfulness. The relatively routine job of helming a modestly budgeted adaptation of Ian Fleming's Dr No (1962) turned out to be one of the defining moments of British cinema. The casting of Sean Connery as Bond was crucial, but Young showed more than mere proficiency in balancing the action, sex and exotic locales which distinguished the formula.