From en.wikipedia.org:
[British film producer (1915–1999)] [date=April 2022] {{Infobox person |name =
Betty Box | honorific_suffix = [country=GBR] |image = Betty_Box_1959.jpg
|caption = Box in 1959 |birth_name = Betty Evelyn Box |birth_date = [1915]
|birth_place = Beckenham, Kent, England |death_date = [1999] |death_place =
Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, England |spouse = Peter Rogers<br />(m. 1948–1999;
her death) |other_names = |known_for = |occupation = Film producer }} BETTY
EVELYN BOX (25 September 1915 – 15 January 1999) was a British film producer,
usually credited as Betty E. Box.
** Early life and career
Born in Beckenham, Kent, England, Betty Box initially planned to be a
commercial artist or journalist.[1] She entered the motion picture industry in
1942, joining her brother Sydney and his wife, director Muriel Box at Verity
Films, where she helped produce more than 200 wartime propaganda shorts.[2]
She said:[3]
[Sitting around was no good for me, my brother said, and he asked me to work
for him. He was running an organisation that made training and recruitment
films. I went along as a general dogsbody, and as more men were called up,
there were more opportunities for me. We worked from 7 a.m. until 10 or 11
at night. I learnt more in those two years than I would in ten years in
peacetime.]
Following World War II, she made an easy transition to feature films,
beginning with _The Years Between_ (1946).
When her brother assumed control of Gainsborough Pictures that year, he named
her Head of Production at the Poole Street, Hoxton studio, where she produced
ten films during the next two years.[4][5] While tight budgets and shooting
schedules compromised the quality of some of them, others – such as _When the
Bough Breaks_ (1947) – proved to be among the most politically interesting
films of the period. "Every story I have at the moment has a murder in it",
she said in 1947. "It's no wonder I'm being called 'Bloodthirsty Box'."[6]
She was also known for the trio of popular _Huggetts_ films, starting with
_Here Come the Huggetts_ (1948) and followed by _Vote for Huggett_ and _The
Huggetts Abroad_ (1949).<ref name="box"/>
** The Rank Organisation
When the Gainsborough studios were closed by Rank in 1949, Box moved to
Pinewood Studios, where she collaborated with director Ralph Thomas on some
30-odd films. They began by making thrillers such as _Venetian Bird_ (1952)
but then concentrated on comedy.
The biggest success of their career commercially was the seven-film _Doctor_
series, beginning with _Doctor in the House_ (1954) and ending with _Doctor in
Trouble_ (1970).[7][8] The comedies contained a wacky irreverence which
clearly struck a chord with contemporary audiences and helped to make stars of
the young Dirk Bogarde and Donald Sinden.<ref name=MorleyS-DBRO>Morley,
Sheridan (1999). _Dirk Bogarde: Rank Outsider_. Bloomsbury (London) (second
edition). [978-0-7475-4698-6].[9][10][11]
Towards the end of her career, Box said the genre she preferred was comedy:
[You can assess laughter. I get pleasure out of making a movie, but to listen
to people laughing at what we have made – this is great. I'm a natural
pessimist. Comedies are difficult. You can make a good adventure story if
you have the money, good actors, and a good story (more often than not a
best-selling book), and you'll know the film will please. Comedy is more of
an instinctive thing.]
** Personal life
Betty Box was married to Peter Rogers, producer of the _Carry On_ film series,
from 24 December 1948 until her death.[12] It was her second marriage; her
first, to a pilot during the war, ended in divorce.
Box and Rogers did not have any children; "We made the choice not to have
children", said Box in 1973. "I don't think I would have made a very good
mother. You know making a movie is like having a baby – it takes eight weeks
to film and nine months to produce." She was godmother to Donald Sinden's
youngest son Marc Sinden.
Box was appointed OBE in 1958.
She died in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, aged 83 from cancer in 1999.[13]
A posthumous autobiography _Lifting the Lid: The Autobiography of Film
Producer Betty Box_ was published in 2000.[14]
** Selected filmography
*** Gainsborough
[Div col]
- _29 Acacia Avenue_ (1945) (associate producer)
- _The Seventh Veil_ (1946) (associate producer)
- _A Girl in a Million_ (1946) (associate producer)
- _The Years Between_ (1946) (associate producer – uncredited)
- _Dear Murderer_ (1947)
- _The Upturned Glass_ (1947) (associate producer)
- _When the Bough Breaks_ (1947)
- _Here Come the Huggetts_ (1948)
- _Daybreak_ (1948) (associate producer)
- _The Blind Goddess_ (1948) (executive producer)
- _Miranda_ (1948)
- _Vote for Huggett_ (1949)
- _Marry Me!_ (1949) aka _I Want to Get Married_
- _Christopher Columbus_ (1949)
- _It's Not Cricket_ (1949)
- _The Huggetts Abroad_ (1949)
[div col end]
*** Rank
[Div col]
- _Don't Ever Leave Me_ (1949)
- _So Long at the Fair_ (1950)
- _The Clouded Yellow_ (1950)
- _Appointment with Venus_ (1951)
- _Venetian Bird_ (1952) aka _The Assassin_
- _A Day To Remember_ (1953)
- _Mad About Men_ (1954)
- _Doctor in the House_ (1954)
- _Doctor at Sea_ (1955)
- _The Iron Petticoat_ (1956)
- _Checkpoint_ (1956)
- _Doctor at Large_ (1957)
- _Campbell's Kingdom_ (1957)
- _True as a Turtle_ (1957) (uncredited)
- _The Wind Cannot Read_ (1958) [15]
- _A Tale of Two Cities_ (1958)
- _The 39 Steps_ (1959)
- _Upstairs and Downstairs_ (1959) [16]
- _Conspiracy of Hearts_ (1960) [17]
- _Doctor in Love_ (1960)
- _No My Darling Daughter_ (1961)
- _No Love for Johnnie_ (1961)
- _A Pair of Briefs_ (1961)
- _The Wild and the Willing_ (1962) [18]
- _Doctor in Distress_ (1963)
- _Hot Enough for June_ (1964)
- _The High Bright Sun_ (1965)
- _Doctor in Clover_ (1966)
- _Deadlier Than the Male_ (1967)
- _Nobody Runs Forever_ (1968)
- _Some Girls Do_ (1969)
[div col end]
*** Welbeck Films
- _Doctor in Trouble_ (1970)
- _Percy_ (1971)
- _Anyone for Sex?_ (1973) (aka _The Love Ban_ )
- _Percy's Progress_ (1974)
*** Other
- _The Olive Tree_ (1975) (TV movie)
*** Unmade films
- _Requiem for a Wren_ (1959) – story about World War two from a woman's point of view based on script by R. C. Sherriff [19]
** References
[Reflist]
** Bibliography
_Lifting the Lid_ by Betty Box, published posthumously in 2000,
[978-1-85776-489-5]
** External links
- [0101490]
- [id=479395]
[Authority control]
[DEFAULTSORT:Box, Betty] Category:1915 births Category:1999 deaths
Category:Deaths from cancer in England Category:English film producers
Category:Golden Globe Award–winning musicians Category:Officers of the Order
of the British Empire Category:People from Beckenham Category:20th-century
English businesspeople