Edward Black(1900-1948)

Producer Edward Black was born in Birmingham, England, in 1900. He was a major figure in the development of the British film industry. His father George was in charge of the property department at the famous Theatre Royal in Birmingham, and got into the burgeoning cinema industry by buying up or starting movie houses across England. When he died in 1910 his sons Edward and Alfred continued the family business and built up a chain of theaters. Gaumont-British bought out the business and Black went to work in the film industry, initially as the studio manager for Gainsborough Pictures, then in 1930 at Gaumont after it took over Gainsborough. He went to the company's Shepherds Bush studios as assistant production manager, then to its Islington studios as studio manager. In 1937 Sheperd's Bush and Gaumont British closed down and the company was bought by J. Arthur Rank's General Film Distributors, and Black was placed in charge of Gainsborough's Pinewood and Islington studios, along with Maurice Ostrer.

Black and Ostrer disagreed almost from the beginning about what types of films the studio should be turning out, with Black wanting to make grittier, more realistic dramas and Ostrer favoring the costume melodramas Gainsborough was noted for. Ostrer won out, and in 1944 Black left the studio and went to work for producer Alexander Korda, producing A Man About the House (1947) and Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948).

Shortly after that film was released, Black died of lung and throat cancer in London, England, at age 48.