Career
He made a major contribution to wartime camouflage and deception operations in the Western Desert, especially in the siege of Tobruk. In 1928, Proud left school at age 15 and started work at the Elstree film studios on Alfred Hitchcock films including and Rich and Strange. In 1932 he joined Gaumont British as assistant designer to Alfred Junge.
The British Film Institute"s Raymond Durgnat described him as an "ace production designer".
In 1935 he moved to Gainsborough Pictures, and in 1936 he became an art director at Warner Brothers, where he worked on Michael Powell"s film Something Always Happens. Proud worked as a camouflage officer under Geoffrey Barkas in the Western Desert in the Second World War, and was responsible for effective camouflage and deception in the Siege of Tobruk.
After the war, Proud ran his own production company. He worked on the television series The Buccaneers and The Adventures of Robin Hood at Nettlefold Studios.
