Michael Winner
Birthday:
30 October 1935, Hampstead, London, England, UK
Birth Name:
Michael Robert Winner
Height:
175 cm
Winner was an only child, born in Hampstead, London, England, to Helen (née Zlota) and George Joseph Winner (1910-1975), a company director. His family was Jewish; his mother was Polish and his father of Russian extraction. Following his father's death, Winner's mother gambled recklessly and sold art and furniture worth around £10m at t...
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Winner was an only child, born in Hampstead, London, England, to Helen (née Zlota) and George Joseph Winner (1910-1975), a company director. His family was Jewish; his mother was Polish and his father of Russian extraction. Following his father's death, Winner's mother gambled recklessly and sold art and furniture worth around £10m at the time, bequeathed to her not only for her life but to Michael thereafter. She died aged 78 in 1984.He was educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read law and economics. He also edited the university's student newspaper, Varsity (he was the youngest ever editor up to that time, both in age and in terms of his university career, being only in the second term of his second year). Winner had earlier written a newspaper column, 'Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip,' in the Kensington Post from the age of 14. The first issue of Showgirl Glamour Revue in 1955 has him writing another film and showbusiness gossip column, "Winner's World". Such jobs allowed him to meet and interview several leading film personalities, including James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. He also wrote for the New Musical Express.He began his screen career as an assistant director of BBC television programmes, cinema shorts, and full-length "B" productions, occasionally writing screenplays. In 1957 he directed his first travelogue, This is Belgium, shot largely on location in East Grinstead. His first on-screen credit was earned as a writer for the crime film Man with a Gun (1958) directed by Montgomery Tully. Winner's first credit on a cinema short was Associate Producer on the film Floating Fortress (1959) produced by Harold Baim. Winner's first project as a lead director involved another story he wrote, Shoot to Kill (1960). He would regularly edit his own movies, using the pseudonym "Arnold Crust". He graduated to first features with Play It Cool (1962), a pop musical starring Billy Fury.Winner's first significant film was West 11 (1963), a sympathetic study of rootless drifters in the then seedy Notting Hill area of London. Filmed on location (always Winner's preference), with a script by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse, the film remains an interesting contribution to the working-class realism wave of the early 1960s. Following differences with his producer, Daniel Angel, Winner (who had wanted to cast Julie Christie in the main female role) resolved to produce as well as direct his films and set up his own company, Scimitar. The System (1964) and the hectic, dystopian I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967) were paired pieces starring Oliver Reed that continued Winner's exploration of alienated youth adrift in a rising tide of affluence, dreaming of an alternative life they can never achieve. These films and the exuberant 'Swinging London' comedy The Jokers (1967), also starring Reed, were well-suited to Winner's restless, intrusive camera style and staccato editing. They were followed by Hannibal Brooks (1969), a witty Second World War comedy written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, which attracted attention in America and led to Winner pursuing a Hollywood career in the 1970s.Winner now developed a new reputation as an efficient maker of violent action thrillers, often starring Charles Bronson. The most successful and controversial was Death Wish (1974), with Bronson cast as a liberal architect who embraces vengeance after the murder of his wife and daughter. An intelligent analysis of the deep roots of vigilantism in American society, Death Wish is restrained in its depiction of violence. With his obsessive need to work, Winner accepted many inferior projects, including two weak Death Wish sequels, though occasionally he tried to make more prestigious films, notably The Nightcomers (1971), a prequel to Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, made in Britain with Marlon Brando; and A Chorus of Disapproval (1989), a satisfying version of Alan Ayckbourn's bittersweet comedy.By the 1990s Winner had become less prolific, and reaped no benefit from the Lottery-prompted rise in genre film-making, which favoured the young and inexperienced. Dirty Weekend (1993), a rape-revenge movie with a female vigilante, aroused considerable controversy, but hardly enhanced Winner's reputation; Parting Shots (1998), a comedy revenge thriller suffused with allusions to Death Wish and restaurant scenes invoking Winner's current incarnation as a food critic, is perhaps his swan song.In an interview with The Times newspaper, Winner said liver specialists had told him in summer 2012 that he had between 18 months and two years to live. He said he had researched assisted suicide offered at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, but found the bureaucracy of the process off-putting. Winner died at his home, Woodland House in Holland Park, on 21 January 2013, aged 77. Winner was buried following a traditional Jewish funeral at Willesden Jewish Cemetery. Show less «
I don't want to live in a tolerant society. I want to live in a very intolerant society.
I don't want to live in a tolerant society. I want to live in a very intolerant society.
Women like to be treasured for themselves. They don't get taken in by men with money. In fact, I did far better when I was an assistant dire...Show more »
Women like to be treasured for themselves. They don't get taken in by men with money. In fact, I did far better when I was an assistant director. Show less «
My sympathy is totally with the little old lady who gets bashed over the head with an iron bar, not with the youngster who did it and gets s...Show more »
My sympathy is totally with the little old lady who gets bashed over the head with an iron bar, not with the youngster who did it and gets sent to the South of France for six weeks to turn into a lovely human being. Show less «
On late actor-comedian Terry-Thomas: "For years, in the English film business, if you wanted a Terry-Thomas-type comedian, you were lucky if...Show more »
On late actor-comedian Terry-Thomas: "For years, in the English film business, if you wanted a Terry-Thomas-type comedian, you were lucky if you got Terry-Thomas himself.". Show less «
A team effort is a lot of people doing what I say.
A team effort is a lot of people doing what I say.
Success has gone to my stomach.
Success has gone to my stomach.
In this business disaster is always just around the corner.
In this business disaster is always just around the corner.
The hardest part of directing is staying awake for nine weeks at a stretch.
The hardest part of directing is staying awake for nine weeks at a stretch.
There's no moralistic side to Death Wish (1974); it's a pleasant romp.
There's no moralistic side to Death Wish (1974); it's a pleasant romp.
Hitchcock said actors are cattle, but show me a cow who can earn one million dollars per film.
Hitchcock said actors are cattle, but show me a cow who can earn one million dollars per film.
If you want art, don't mess about with movies. Buy a Picasso.
If you want art, don't mess about with movies. Buy a Picasso.
An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross station. I really don't care if I get anything or not. I'm very glad th...Show more »
An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross station. I really don't care if I get anything or not. I'm very glad that they recognize my considerable skills as a toilet cleaner. But when you look at the rubbish who are getting these awards and the absolute non-service they have given to the nation other than financing or working for political parties, you say, 'What company am I in?' At least if you go straight to the House of Lords you can wear fancy dress and have a giggle. Show less «
Nearly dying hasn't taught me a thing. It's just taught me that being ill is a bloody pain!
Nearly dying hasn't taught me a thing. It's just taught me that being ill is a bloody pain!
[on censors] They all tended to be failed directors who suddenly find they have power over every director in the world and they misuse it.
[on censors] They all tended to be failed directors who suddenly find they have power over every director in the world and they misuse it.
[to Richard Littlejohn, on live TV] I'm quite appalled, and very nearly walked out, to be on a British television program where lesbians are...Show more »
[to Richard Littlejohn, on live TV] I'm quite appalled, and very nearly walked out, to be on a British television program where lesbians are wheeled in for you to make smutty and offensive remarks to. I think it is an absolutely shameful exhibition of vulgarity directed toward a minority. I think the lesbians have come over with considerable dignity and you've come over as an arsehole. Show less «
I don't go out much, partly because I get bored sitting next to the same person for three hours and partly because I started giving my hoste...Show more »
I don't go out much, partly because I get bored sitting next to the same person for three hours and partly because I started giving my hostesses marks out of 10 for their cooking. Show less «
I don't think people are affected by what they see. It's fantasy, people don't watch a murder and then go out and commit one.
I don't think people are affected by what they see. It's fantasy, people don't watch a murder and then go out and commit one.
I do essentially the same things I did as an 18-year-old. I go on dates, I make films, I write. Nothing has really changed.
I do essentially the same things I did as an 18-year-old. I go on dates, I make films, I write. Nothing has really changed.
I'd have Charles Bronson starring in Death Wish XXVI if I thought it would make a profit.
I'd have Charles Bronson starring in Death Wish XXVI if I thought it would make a profit.
(His most hated film) I found it impossible to watch Johnny Guitar (1954) with Joan Crawford. It came out to appalling reviews, but later be...Show more »
(His most hated film) I found it impossible to watch Johnny Guitar (1954) with Joan Crawford. It came out to appalling reviews, but later became a sort of cult camp western among the Joan Crawford fan group. I'm not sure what year it was, I would guess mid-50s, but I walked out of my local Odeon - the only time I ever walked out of the cinema. It was just awful, unbelievably slow and nothing seemed to happen. Obviously the industry thought much the same because they didn't give her another western. Show less «
"At 16 I was at my peak. It's been downhill ever since. I had a showbiz column in 26 local newspapers and I was the film critic of the NME. ...Show more »
"At 16 I was at my peak. It's been downhill ever since. I had a showbiz column in 26 local newspapers and I was the film critic of the NME. The London Palladium had big stars every two weeks - Dean Martin, Nat 'King' Cole, Bob Hope - and they weren't as protected from the public as they are today. I just went round and met them all. I was, as I still am, extremely shy. But when I wanted or needed something I became this other person, who was an act, and was very determined. I'd known from age five I wanted nothing in life other than to direct films". Show less «
(On Oliver Reed) "Drunks on the whole are immensely quiet and dignified when they're sober. But when they're drunk, they're drunk. They're t...Show more »
(On Oliver Reed) "Drunks on the whole are immensely quiet and dignified when they're sober. But when they're drunk, they're drunk. They're two people; they're Jekyll and Hyde. I remember once I met him in a restaurant and he went out and challenged someone to a fight; he was always doing that and he always lost the fight. So he went out into Hyde Park in a beautiful Savile Row suit to fight this bloke and came back having been thrown in the round pond, he was soaking". Show less «
(On regularly being asked to remake Death Wish (1974)) "I don't want to do something for the sake of it. I am prepared to wait. If I wait un...Show more »
(On regularly being asked to remake Death Wish (1974)) "I don't want to do something for the sake of it. I am prepared to wait. If I wait until I am buried, too bad". Show less «
I've got no fear about death. I'm very happy to snuff it; you have to live with the cards you've been dealt with.
I've got no fear about death. I'm very happy to snuff it; you have to live with the cards you've been dealt with.
Girlfriends have to be cheerful, light and bright is essential, otherwise, what's the point?
Girlfriends have to be cheerful, light and bright is essential, otherwise, what's the point?
"When I die, it's going to be 'Death Wish director dies'. I don't mind though - Death Wish (1974) was an epoch-making film. The first film i...Show more »
"When I die, it's going to be 'Death Wish director dies'. I don't mind though - Death Wish (1974) was an epoch-making film. The first film in the history of cinema where the hero kills other civilians. It had never been done before. Since then it has been the most copied film ever. Tarantino put it in his top 10 films ever made". Show less «
"I made some mistakes. I turned down The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), The French Connection (1971) - James Bond! Why did I turn down Ja...Show more »
"I made some mistakes. I turned down The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), The French Connection (1971) - James Bond! Why did I turn down James Bond? It was madness. I never made a film that would have given me the credibility of a few Bonds. Nicolas Roeg told me I shouldn't look as if I enjoyed directing so much. I thought he was crazy but the English don't like somebody who apparently enjoys it all. They like you to suffer and talk a load of rubbish about the ethos of the intellectual side of the movie". Show less «
If I could go back I'd pay more attention to my parents. My father was adorable and my mother, though a nutcase and addicted to gambling, wa...Show more »
If I could go back I'd pay more attention to my parents. My father was adorable and my mother, though a nutcase and addicted to gambling, was lovely. But at 20 I became a movie director. It was all-consuming. All I wanted to do was make movies, hang around with actors, have affairs with actresses. I was Jack the Lad supreme. Parents just weren't as interesting. I regret that deeply because they were really real and loved me. Show less «
My younger self wouldn't be surprised that he'd become a successful film director. But he'd be impressed at how many great friends I've made...Show more »
My younger self wouldn't be surprised that he'd become a successful film director. But he'd be impressed at how many great friends I've made - Brando, Bob Mitchum, Orson Welles. Oliver Reed was the most wonderful man I ever met. The most sensitive, shy person: he needed drink because he was so terrified of life and people. We'd be on location in Germany and he'd get drunk and piss on the German flag and 'Heil Hitler!' up the hotel corridor and then he'd come in the morning very quiet and gentlemanly, not remembering any of it. He was adorable. I wept at his funeral. I was the only person from showbusiness who went. All his so-called friends - Ken Russell, who directed him in all these movies - they couldn't be bothered to go. Terrible. Show less «
"I got on wonderfully with all these actors everyone warned me were impossible to work with. Brando, Mitchum, Sophia Loren - they never beha...Show more »
"I got on wonderfully with all these actors everyone warned me were impossible to work with. Brando, Mitchum, Sophia Loren - they never behaved badly with me. Roman Polanski told me just the other day that Faye Dunaway was totally impossible when they were making Chinatown (1974). Well I can only say to me she was the most professional, wonderful person. But then she did say in her autobiography that the film with me was the only one she ever enjoyed. I called her Fayzie. Even Burt Lancaster. He did try to kill me three times but he was my best friend, a wonderful actor - he just had a terrible temper". Show less «
(On Julie Christie not being in West 11 (1963)) "The producer, Danny Angel, didn't even want to test her,, because she'd been tested and rej...Show more »
(On Julie Christie not being in West 11 (1963)) "The producer, Danny Angel, didn't even want to test her,, because she'd been tested and rejected for a great many films, including Billy Liar (1963), which she later made when the girl who was chosen became ill. We tested her and immediately said: 'Marvellous, we've discovered a very, very big star.' The producer said: 'You're absolutely mad! Just a B-movie actress. She'll never be anything! Who would want to fuck Julie Christie?' To which I said: 'I would.' To which the producer responded in front of a large number of people at the screening room in Associated British Studios, Elstree: 'Well you're a homosexual.' That's how it was in the early 60's...!! That's one of the reasons I soon became my own producer. Some months later, I rang Angel: Hollywood's made a huge mistake. They've given your B-actress an Oscar!" Show less «