William Sterling (director)

Last updated

William Sterling (born 14 September 1926) [1] was an Australian producer and director. [2] [3] He was born in Sydney, New South Wales.

Contents

Biography

Sterling was born in Sydney, one of two brothers. When his father was killed during World War II, Sterling left school to work in a chartered accountant's office. He served in the Royal Australian Navy then did a Bachelor of Arts at Sydney University, with Honours in English and History. He was going to be a teacher but then got a job as liaison officer between the ABC and the Department of Education. He began writing and producing radio plays, and in 1956 moved into directing television at the ABC. He moved to Melbourne in 1957.

Sterling originally directed all sorts of programs for the ABC but in October 1959 was assigned to drama full time. [4] Audrey Rogers was his assistant. [5]

Sterling directed a landmark Australian TV play about Aboriginal Australians Burst of Summer (1960). [6]

In 1961 he commenced shooting a feature film about Burke and Wills with Edward Brayshaw. This became known as Return Journey. [7]

In 1965 he went to the USA for a study tour, worked for three months with CBC Toronto, then settled in the UK. [8]

Sterling returned to Australia in 1972 to promote the release of Alice in Wonderland and criticised local movies as too self consciously Australian. [9] He returned again in 1977 seeking finance for a feature called The Bird of Strange Plumage. [10]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Mitchell</span> British actor (1926–2015)

Warren Mitchell was a British actor. He was a BAFTA TV Award winner and twice a Laurence Olivier Award winner.

The year 1959 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1959.

The year 1958 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Bridges</span> American actor (1913–1998)

Lloyd Bridges was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, including the actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. He started his career as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in films such as Sahara (1943), A Walk in the Sun (1945), Little Big Horn (1951) and High Noon (1952). On television, he starred in Sea Hunt 1958 to 1961. By the end of his career, he had re-invented himself and demonstrated a comedic talent in such parody films as Airplane! (1980), Hot Shots! (1991), and Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998). Among other honors, Bridges was a two-time Emmy Award nominee. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 1, 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Devereaux</span> Australian actor, film director (1925–2003)

Edward Sidney Devereaux, better known professionally as Ed Devereaux, was an Australian actor, director, and scriptwriter who lived in the United Kingdom for many years. He was best known for playing the part of Matt Hammond the head ranger in the Australian television series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. He was also involved in the series behind the scenes, Devereaux writing the script and directing the episode The Veteran (1969), for which he received much critical acclaim. Devereaux based the story of the episode "Double Trouble" on an idea conceived by his children, wrote the screenplay of "Summer Storm" and the script for "The Mine". He also played the part of Joe in the Australian 1966 film ‘They’re a Weird Mob’. The film was a local success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Schallert</span> American actor (1922-2016)

William Joseph Schallert was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957–1959), Death Valley Days (1955–1962), and The Patty Duke Show (1963–1966).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lansing (actor)</span> American actor (1928-1994)

Robert Lansing was an American stage, film, and television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Brayshaw</span>

Edward John Brayshaw was an Australian actor who worked in Australia and England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screen Gems</span> American film studio

Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation, initially as a cartoon studio, then a television studio, and later on as a film studio. The label currently serves as a film production that specializes in genre films, mainly horror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Alden</span> American actor (1924–2012)

Norman Alden was an American character actor who performed in television programs and motion pictures. He first appeared on television on The 20th Century Fox Hour in 1957. He provided the voice of Kay in The Sword in the Stone (1963), and had a notable role in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. His acting career began in 1957 and lasted nearly 50 years. He is also known for playing Kranix and Arblus in The Transformers: The Movie (1986). He retired from acting in 2006. He died on July 27, 2012, at the age of 87.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Doleman</span> New Zealand actor

Guy Doleman was a New Zealand born actor, active in Australia, Britain and the United States.

Ernest Lamont Johnson Jr. was an American actor and film director who has appeared in and directed many television shows and movies. He won two Emmy Awards.

Raymond Edward Menmuir was a British-Australian director and producer. His career included producing 44 episodes of The Professionals and directing 12 episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs. He also produced an Australian version of The Professionals called Special Squad for the Ten Network in 1984.

Claude Barma, was a French director and screenwriter, and an early creator of French television programmes.

1959 in Australian television was the fourth year of television broadcasts in Australia.

James B. Clark Jr. was an American film director, film editor, and television director. His career as a film editor began in 1937, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing in 1941 for How Green Was My Valley. He continued to work as a film editor until 1960, but in 1955 also began a career as a film and television director. He tended to focus on works involving people's relationships with animals. Among the more popular and notable projects he directed were the films A Dog of Flanders (1959), The Sad Horse (1959), Misty (1961), Flipper (1963), Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964), and My Side of the Mountain (1969), and episodes of the television series My Friend Flicka (1955–1956), Batman (1966–1967), and Lassie (1969–1971).

<i>Killer in Close-Up</i> 1957 Australian television film

Killer in Close-Up was a blanket title covering four live television drama plays produced by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1957 and 1958. It could be seen as the first anthology series produced for Australian television.

Burst of Summer is a 1959 play by Oriel Gray. It won the 1959 J. C. Williamson's Little Theatre Guild Award, and was later adapted for radio and TV. It was Gray's last produced play.

Christopher Muir was an Australian director and producer, notable for his work in TV in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s he was head of ABC Television drama.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0827597/ [ user-generated source ]
  2. ↑ "The summer visitors". The Bulletin. 6 January 1973. p. 24.
  3. ↑ He describes his methods"TV Drama Producer "Vetoes" Prompting". The Age. 26 September 1958. p. 24.
  4. ↑ "To Concentrate on TV Drama". The Age. 15 October 1959. p. 26.
  5. ↑ "Will Sterling On and Off Duty". The Age. 5 November 1959. p. 26.
  6. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (15 November 2020). "The Flawed Landmark: Burst of Summer". Filmink.
  7. ↑ "Sterling to Direct a Film". The Age. 11 January 1961. p. 1.
  8. ↑ "IN WONDERLAND WITH ALICE". The Australian Women's Weekly . Vol. 40, no. 27. Australia. 6 December 1972. p. 18. Retrieved 15 February 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ Patterson, Bryce (28 December 1972). "Our films 'too self consciously Australian'". The Age. p. 2.
  10. ↑ Borschmann, Gregg (15 January 1977). "Will Sterling Comes Home". The Age. p. 18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.