Joseph Losey
Joseph Losey (
January 14,
1909 in
La Crosse, Wisconsin -
June 22,
1984 in
London) was an
American theater and
film director.
After studying in
Germany with
Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the
United States, eventually making his way to
Hollywood.
During the
McCarthy Era, he was investigated for his supposed ties with the
Communist Party and was
blacklisted by the
Hollywood movie studio bosses. His career in shambles, he moved to
London, where he continued working as a director.
His film
The Go-Between won the
Golden Palm Award at the 1971
Cannes Film Festival. Even in the
UK, however, he experienced problems: his first British film,
The Sleeping Tiger,a
1954 film noir crime thriller, did not bear his name originally in the credits as director, as the stars of the film,
Alexis Smith and
Alexander Knox, feared being blacklisted in
Hollywood due to working on a film he directed. He was also originally slated to direct the
1956 Hammer Films production
X the Unknown; however after a few days work on the project star
Dean Jagger refused to work with a supposed
Communist sympathiser and Losey was moved off the project.
* Michel Ciment,
Le Livre de Losey. Entretiens avec le cinéaste, Paris, Stock/Cinéma, 1979, 465 p.
* Michel Ciment,
Joseph Losey : l'oeil du Maître, Institut Lumière/Actes Sud, 1994, 360 p.
* Penelope Houston, « Losey's Paper Handkerchief »,
Sight and Sound, Summer 1966, p. 142-143.
* Gilles Jacob, « Joseph Losey, or The Camera Calls »,
Sight and Sound, Spring 1966, p. 62-67.
*
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
