Bryan Oates
- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Born in June 1945 in Suffolk, Bryan left school at 18. He started as an Assistant Stage Manager at Oldham Repertory Theatre, rising to Stage Manager and then worked his way via Northampton, Canterbury and Exeter Northcott Theatre (which he opened with Tony Church) to being Stage Director at The Mermaid Theatre, at Bernard Miles' invitation. He stage-directed 'Treasure Island' with Barry Humphries, Spike Milligan and Willie Rushton, then 'Hadrian 7th', with Alec McCowan, and 'Black Girl in Search of God' with Dame Edith Evans.
From there he moved over to Film & TV with 'The Avengers' (1968) followed by a career in the cutting rooms which included assistant editing 'The Killing Fields', 'Get Carter', 'The Mission' and other feature films. He assisted on Jane Goodall's 'Baboons' for which he won an Emmy citation.
Bryan was invited by Ken Loach to join him as assistant director on 'Family Life', followed by assistant directing Philip Saville on 'Secrets'. However, realising that, as the film historian & Bryan's friend Kevin Brownlow wrote, "The Hidden Power" lay in editing (and not in getting actors out of bed early in the morning and to the studio, through make-up and hair and ready to shoot) he returned to the cutting rooms. He soon became an editor, sought after in film and television drama.
Over the 40 years of his film career he worked with Ken Loach, Roland Joffé, Richard Attenborough, Aisling Walsh, Martin Scorsese, John Schlesinger, Mike Hodges and Franco Zeffirelli. He retired in June 2008.
From there he moved over to Film & TV with 'The Avengers' (1968) followed by a career in the cutting rooms which included assistant editing 'The Killing Fields', 'Get Carter', 'The Mission' and other feature films. He assisted on Jane Goodall's 'Baboons' for which he won an Emmy citation.
Bryan was invited by Ken Loach to join him as assistant director on 'Family Life', followed by assistant directing Philip Saville on 'Secrets'. However, realising that, as the film historian & Bryan's friend Kevin Brownlow wrote, "The Hidden Power" lay in editing (and not in getting actors out of bed early in the morning and to the studio, through make-up and hair and ready to shoot) he returned to the cutting rooms. He soon became an editor, sought after in film and television drama.
Over the 40 years of his film career he worked with Ken Loach, Roland Joffé, Richard Attenborough, Aisling Walsh, Martin Scorsese, John Schlesinger, Mike Hodges and Franco Zeffirelli. He retired in June 2008.
