Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet (born 5 May 1940),[1] is an American-born television, film, music video, and theatre director. Beginning his career in British television, Lindsay-Hogg became a pioneer in music film production, directing promotional films for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Following his work with these bands, he branched out into film and theatre, while still maintaining successful careers in television and music video production.
Michael as a toddler with his mother Geraldine in 1944
Michael Lindsay-Hogg was born in New York City in 1940 to actress Geraldine Fitzgerald.[1] He was educated at Trinity School in New York and at Choate School in Connecticut.[2] For most of his early life, he understood that his father was Fitzgerald's husband, Sir Edward Lindsay-Hogg, to whom she was married until 1946. When Michael Lindsay-Hogg was 16, his mother reluctantly divulged that there had been pervasive rumours that his father was Orson Welles, and she denied them—but in such detail that he was left confused and skeptical.[3][2]:15 Fitzgerald evaded the subject for the rest of her life.
Lindsay-Hogg knew Welles, worked with him in the theatre, and met him at intervals throughout Welles's life.[4] After he learned that Welles's oldest daughter, Chris, his childhood playmate, had long suspected that he was her brother,[5] Lindsay-Hogg initiated a DNA test, which proved inconclusive. In his 2011 autobiography, Lindsay-Hogg reported that his questions were resolved by his mother's close friend Gloria Vanderbilt, who wrote that Fitzgerald had told her that Welles was his father.[2]:265–267 A 2015 Welles biography by Patrick McGilligan, however, argues that Welles could not be the father: Fitzgerald left the U.S. for Ireland in May 1939, and was pregnant at the time she returned in late October, while Welles did not travel overseas during that period.[6]
Lindsay-Hogg grew up with a stepfather, American businessman Stuart Scheftel, who married Fitzgerald in 1946.[7]
Career
Lindsay-Hogg worked as producer's assistant for the film Dear Heart (1964).[8]
In 1965, he directed episodes of the British pop programme Ready Steady Go! featuring artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and The Who. In addition to these he directed episodes of Blackmail, The Informer, A Man of Our Times, Half Hour Story, and The Company of Five, a series of television plays. He served as the series director of The Ronnie Barker Playhouse in 1968. In 1969, the episode Matakitas is Coming that he directed of the mystery/supernatural anthology series Journey to the Unknown was released as part of a TV movie.
Through his work on Ready Steady Go!, Lindsay-Hogg became acquainted with some of the top rock artists of the day, and was subsequently hired to direct promotional films for their songs. Some of his early promo film work includes films for the Beatles' "Paperback Writer", "Rain", "Hey Jude", and "Revolution" and the Rolling Stones' "2000 Light Years from Home", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", and "Child of the Moon". His work on these and other films led Camerimage to award him a retrospective "Music Video Pioneer" award in 2012.[9] The Rolling Stones liked his work, and he was approached in 1968 to direct a full-length television special. Lindsay-Hogg conceived The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, featuring the Stones and other musicians playing in a circus atmosphere. The band was not completely satisfied with the result, and the film did not see release until 1996.[10]
Lindsay-Hogg was hired by the Beatles to direct a film. Originally conceived as a television special, Get Back was to feature footage of the Beatles recording a new album and rehearsing for a concert appearance. However, the film and album were shelved for a time following the Beatles' rooftop concert in January 1969. The Beatles returned to the project, and released the newly retitled Let It Be (1970) along with an album of the same name. Material originally captured for Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary was used by Peter Jackson for the 2021 documentary series The Beatles: Get Back, which portrays more harmony than acrimony during those sessions.
Following Let It Be, Lindsay-Hogg continued his work in UK television, directing both episodes and TV movies, including work on the TV serial Brideshead Revisited (1981). His work on the BBC series Play for Today and Play of the Week, and the serial Brideshead Revisited were each nominated for BAFTA awards, in 1974, 1978, and 1983, respectively, with Brideshead Revisited winning for Best Drama Series/Serial. His second feature film as director, Nasty Habits (1977),[11] is a comedy satire of the Watergate scandal. His third theatrical film, The Sound of Murder, was released in 1982.
In addition to his television and film work, Lindsay-Hogg is known for his work in theatre. He directed both the original 1978 stage production[14] (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award) and 1980 revival of Whose Life Is It Anyway?. He also directed Broadway productions of Agnes of God (1982), and The Boys of Winter (1985). Off-Broadway, he helmed Larry Kramer's AIDS drama The Normal Heart in 1985.
His autobiography entitled Luck and Circumstance: A Coming of Age in Hollywood, New York, and Points Beyond was published in 2011. It chronicles his career and his relationship with Orson Welles.[2]
After a long break from television and film work, Lindsay-Hogg began directing the web seriesTinsel's Town in 2015.[15][16]
Personal life
Lindsay-Hogg married Lucy Mary Davies in 1967; they divorced in 1971. Lucy Lindsay-Hogg subsequently became the second wife of photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, in 1978.[17]
For 10 years, in the 1970s, Lindsay-Hogg was romantically involved with British actress Jean Marsh.[18] He had also been involved with Gloria Vanderbilt, who had assured Lindsay-Hogg that Orson Welles was his father.[4] He was also reportedly romantically linked with Mary Tyler Moore, whom he directed on Broadway in "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?"[19]
George Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.
The Rutles were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, later toured and recorded, releasing two studio albums and garnering two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes' death in 2019.
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. These videos are typically shown on music television and on streaming video sites like YouTube, or more rarely shown theatrically. They can be commercially issued on home video, either as video albums or video singles. The format has been described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip", "film clip", "video clip", or simply "video".
Let It Be is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the group's public break-up, in tandem with the documentary of the same name. Concerned about recent friction within the band, Paul McCartney had conceived the project as an attempt to reinvigorate the group by returning to simpler rock 'n' roll configurations. Its rehearsals started at Twickenham Film Studios on 2 January 1969 as part of a planned television documentary showing the Beatles' return to live performance.
Neil James Innes was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the pioneering comedy rock group Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Python troupe on their BBC television series and films, and is often called the "seventh Python" along with performer Carol Cleveland. He co-created the Rutles, a Beatles parody/pastiche project, with Python Eric Idle, and wrote the band's songs. He also wrote and voiced the 1980s ITV children's cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls.
Richard Lester Liebman is a retired American film director based in the United Kingdom, famous for his comedic and campy style of shooting movies and for his work in both US and UK cinema.
Sorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He acted in more than 100 plays and 150 television shows, and is best known for his role as corrupt politician Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard.
Charles B. G. Sturridge is an English director and screenwriter. He is the recipient of a BAFTA Children's Award and four BAFTA TV Awards. He has also been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was a concert film hosted by and featuring the Rolling Stones, filmed on 11–12 December 1968. It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who proposed the idea of a "rock and roll circus" to Jagger. The show was filmed on a makeshift circus stage with Jethro Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Rolling Stones. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a one-shot supergroup called The Dirty Mac, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and the Stones' Keith Richards on bass. The recently formed Led Zeppelin had been considered for inclusion, but the idea was rejected.
Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald was an Irish stage, film, and television actress. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award nominee, and an Emmy Award winner. She was a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame and, in 2020, was listed at number 30 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Speed Buggy is an American animated television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, which originally aired for one season on CBS from September 8, 1973, to December 22, 1973. With the voices of Mel Blanc, Michael Bell, Arlene Golonka, and Phil Luther Jr., the show follows an orange anthropomorphic dune buggy who alongside teenagers Debbie, Mark, and Tinker, solves mysteries while participating in racing competitions around the world. The series was produced by Iwao Takamoto, executive produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and directed by Charles A. Nichols.
Joseph McGrath is a Scottish film and television director and screenwriter. He was born in Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art in the late 1940s and early 1950s where his energy and talent was admired by his contemporaries.
Let It Be is a 1970 British documentary film starring the Beatles and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The film documents the group's rehearsing and recording songs in January 1969 for what was to become their twelfth and final studio album Let It Be. The film includes an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, the last public performance of the four together.
"Waiting on a Friend" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album Tattoo You. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and released as the album's second single, it reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US.
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they are commonly regarded as the most influential band of all time. Between 1964 and 1970, they appeared in five major motion pictures, beginning with A Hard Day's Night (1964) and ending with Let It Be (1970). From late 1965 to 1969, the group also appeared in several promotional films for their singles, which have been credited with anticipating music videos and the rise of MTV in the 1980s.
"Far Away Eyes" is the sixth track from the English rock band the Rolling Stones' 1978 album, Some Girls. It was released, as the B-side of the single "Miss You", on Rolling Stones Records, on 9 June 1978. Rolling Stone magazine made it the 73rd song on their list of 100 Greatest Rolling Stone's Songs.
Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. It was produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. Significant elements of it were directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who handled the initial phases of the production, before Charles Sturridge carried on with the series. The first episode is credited to both men equally.
Two of Us is a 2000 television drama which offers a dramatized account of April 24, 1976, six years after the break-up of the Beatles and the day in which Lorne Michaels made a statement on Saturday Night Live offering the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on his program.
John Stanley Livingstone Harris was a Scottish composer, producer, arranger, conductor, and musical director. He lived in the United States from 1972 until his death.
Alan Gibson was a Canadian director active in British film and television. He was particularly notable in his early years for his work in horror. The films he directed include Journey to Midnight (1968), Crescendo (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), Checkered Flag or Crash (1977), Witness for the Prosecution (1982) and A Woman Called Golda (1982) starring Ingrid Bergman. His television work includes Eh Joe (1965), The Capone Investment (1974), Churchill and the Generals (1979) and The Charmer (1987).
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