Ken Graham Hughes

Background

Kenneth Graham Hughes was born on January 19, 1922, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. He was a son of Clement Graham and Edith Mae (Kenny) Hughes.

Education

Ken Hudges was a student of City of London College (now London Guildhall University) in 1938.

Career

Hughes was a sound mixer and a program assistant at British Broadcasting Corporation in London, United Kingdom in 1939-1942. He was also a freelance film editor in England in 1942-1944. He was a director of documentary films at Film Producers Guild in England in 1944-1954. He was a freelance film director in England, since 1954.

Hughes was involved in numerous films but is best known as the director and co-author of the children’s favorite "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," a tale of an eccentric inventor and his magic flying car. The story was somewhat based on a work by Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Hughes was also one of many directors of the Bond send-up "Casino Royale," which had a cast of stars but did poorly at the box office. Hughes grew up in London and became interested in movies while still a youngster. At fourteen he won an amateur film contest and joined the British Broadcasting Company two years later. He worked on a series of productions and in 1958 received an Emmy Award for best writing for the television play Eddie, starring Mickey Rooney. It was the story of a man who owes money to a bookie and must raise the funds in three hours. The play was made into the film "The SmallWorld of Sammy Lee," in 1963, and starred Anthony Newley. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang followed in 1968 and made a star of Hughes. Other successful pictures Hughes made include The Trials of Oscar Wilde, with Peter Finch, Of Human Bondage, starring Kim Novak and Laurence Harvey, and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, which Hughes wrote. Later in his career, Hughes made films like "Alfie Darling," "Night School," and "Sextette," Mae West’s last picture.

Achievements

• Kenneth Graham Hughes was a well-known British screenwriter and director, his works were recognized by critics all over the world. He was a recipient British television Academy award from British Film and Television Association in 1958, British Critics award in 1959, Emmy award in 1959, Golden Globe award in 1960. He is best known as the co-writer and director of the children's film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968).

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Sextette

    (Based on Mae West's Broadway stage hit, this is the story...)

    1978
  • Night School

    (Rachel Ward stars in this horror film about a police dete...)

    1981
  • Heat Wave

    (Fearful of getting cut from her ailing husband's will, a ...)

    1954
  • The Internecine Project

    (Professor Robert Elliot, a former secret agent given the ...)

    1974
  • Cromwell

    (Richard Harris and Alec Guinness star in a dazzling epic ...)

    1970
  • Of Human Bondage

    (Laurence Harvey and the legendary Kim Novak star as in th...)

    1964
  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1968
  • Casino Royale 1968
  • Oh Alfie 1975

Views

"I didn't enjoy making Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," Hughes once remarked. "The film made a lot of money, but that doesn't really make me feel any better about it. On the other hand, I've made pictures that got awards at Berlin and places and didn't make any money, and that doesn't make me feel any better either." Hughes was most proud of The Trials Of Oscar Wilde (1960), undoubtedly his best film, and his first with a decent budget.

Quotations: "Writers aren't highly regarded in this industry, and original scripts are hard to get off the ground. If I really wanted to put across an idea, I'd bring it out as a book first, even if it didn't sell. Movie producers are impressed by hardcovers because it shows that someone else had some confidence in the writing. It's ridiculous, but it's true."

Membership

Hughes was a member of Writers Guild American, Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematography Theatre Union, Dramatists Guild New York, Screenwriters Guild Great Britain, Society Auteurset Compositeurs Dramatique. Clubs: White Elephant (London) (honorary member).

• 

  The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: The Writers Guild of America, East, headquartered in New York City. The Writers Guild of America, West, headquartered in Los Angeles.

  Writers Guild American , United States

• 

  The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU) became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017 following the merger of BECTU with Prospect. It has circa 40,000 members who work in broadcasting, film, theatre, IT, telecoms, entertainment, leisure, and interactive media.

  Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematography Theatre Union , United Kingdom

• 

  The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market. Membership as an Associate Member is open to any person having written at least one stage play.

  Dramatists Guild New York , United States

• 

  The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds.

  Screenwriters Guild of Great Britain , United Kingdom

• 

  SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors.

  Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques , France

Personality

Physical Characteristics: In his later years, Kenneth Hughes suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and died of complications of this disease.

Interests

• music, history, choreography

Connections

colleague:

Dick Van Dyke

colleague:

Mae West

Mary Jane "Mae" West was an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. She was known for her lighthearted, bawdy double entendres and breezy sexual independence.

colleague:

John Huston

John Marcellus Huston (August 5, 1906 - August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and visual artist. He and Hughes worked together on "Casino Royale" (1967).

colleague:

Joseph McGrath

Joseph McGrath is a Scottish film and television director and screenwriter. He and Hughes worked together on "Casino Royale" (1967).

colleague:

Robert Parrish

Robert R. Parrish (January 4, 1916 - December 4, 1995) was an American film director, editor, writer, and child actor.

colleague:

Richard Talmadge

Richard Talmadge (December 3, 1892 - January 25, 1981) was a German-born actor, stuntman and film director.

colleague:

Val Guest

Valmond Maurice Guest (11 December 1911 - 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter.

colleague:

Woody Allen

Woody Allen is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian.

colleague:

David Niven

James David Graham Niven was an English actor, memoirist and novelist. His many roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death, Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, and Sir Charles Lytton in The Pink Panther.

colleague:

Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 - 24 July 1980) was an English film actor, comedian, and singer.

colleague:

Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss film and television actress, former model and sex symbol, who has appeared in American, British and Italian films.

colleague:

Joanna Pettet

Joanna Pettet (born Joanna Jane Salmon, 16 November 1942) is a retired English actress.

colleague:

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, producer, and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent film era.

colleague:

Anthony Newley

Anthony Newley was an English actor, singer, and songwriter. Newley achieved success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.

colleague:

Ruth Roman

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 194
  2010