- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRobert James Hamer
- Robert James Hamer was born in 1911 along with his twin sister Barbara, the son of Owen Dyke Hamer, a bank clerk, and his wife, Annie Grace Brickell. He was educated at Cambridge University where he wrote some poetry and was published in a collection 'Contemporaries and Their Maker', along with the spy Donald Maclean.
Hamer's cinematic career began as a clapper boy at London Films in 1934, and by 1938 he was on the editing staff. He worked as an editor on Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939) and worked briefly for the GPO Film Unit. He joined Ealing in 1941 as an editor, becoming an associate producer in 1943. He first made a name for himself as a director with the "The Haunted Mirror" segment in the 1945 omnibus film Dead of Night (1945).
At Ealing he directed one of the classic British comedies, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which Alec Guinness played eight roles. Hamer was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 1949 Venice Film Festival for his work on the film, as he was in 1954 for directing Guinness in The Detective (1954), which was based on G.K. Chesterton's short stories (Hamer also also directed Guinness in the 1955 romantic comedy To Paris with Love (1955) at Rank and the thriller The Scapegoat (1959), which was based on the Daphne Du Maurier novel, for Du Maurier-Guinness/MGM).
Hamer's last directorial effort was 1960's School for Scoundrels (1960) with Terry-Thomas and Alastair Sim. He died in London on December 4, 1963, and was buried at Llandegley.
- IMDb mini biography by: Andrew Cox, Cardiff ajcox14@hotmail.com and Jon C. Hopwood
- Chronic alcoholism ended both his marriage and his career as a director, and it eventually led to his early death. At the time he died, he was almost penniless and had only a monthly allowance from his father to support himself with.
- Was married from the mid 30's to the mid 50's to the actress Joan Holt, the sister of fellow-director Seth Holt.
- Pre-production work on School for Scoundrels (1960) was marked by enormous arguments between Hamer and producer Hal E. Chester (who contrived to annoy many other people on the film, too). The creative differences continued after the start of filming, and, after five weeks' work, Hamer, who had successfully remained completely teetotal up to this point, went on a massive drinking binge which made him unfit for work and caused him to be fired. The last three weeks of filming were directed by an uncredited Cyril Frankel.
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 438-441. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
- He made a major contribution to the screenplay of They All Died Laughing (1964) and had hoped to return to directing with it. But due to his continued alcoholism the producers wouldn't hire him and in fact, he died aged 52 several months before the film was released.
- [on Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)] It became evident that we had a subject with most agreeable possibilities. What were the possibilities that thus presented themselves? Firstly, that of making a film not noticeably similar to any previously made in the English language. Secondly, that of using the English language, which I love, in a more varied, and, to me, more interesting way than I had previously had the chance of doing in a film. Thirdly, that of making a picture which paid no regard whatever to established, though not practiced, moral convention.
- People think they have some right to be happy and are doubly unhappy when they are not.
- I've a theory I was born several hundred drinks under par, so I'm always catching up.
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