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Adam Alexander Dawson (20 March 1913 – 29 January 2010) was a noted film and television editor.


Biography

Dawson was born at 33 Royal Terrace,
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, son of Alexander Bashall Dawson and Aileen Twentyman Smithers. He was a descendant of both the Dawson whisky family of St Magdalenes Distillery,
Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...
, and the Gillon whisky family of
Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
. Dawson was educated at
Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...
,
Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...
, and
The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...
where he was President of the Oxford University Film Society. He joined the
Royal Berkshire Regiment The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), by ...
and from 1942 to 1946, he edited and produced many training films for the Army while in India. He subsequently worked for
Nettlefold Studios Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
as a film editor. While working for the BBC he edited a number of productions, including ''
Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...
'', ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' and ''
The Benny Hill Show ''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketch comedy, sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and ...
'', although he refused to have his name in the credits of the latter. Among his films are ''
Knight Without Armour ''Knight Without Armour'' (styled as ''Knight Without Armor'' in some releases) is a 1937 British historical drama film starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat. It was directed by Jacques Feyder and produced by Alexander Korda from a screen ...
'' (1937), ''The Conquest of the Air'' (1940), '' The Glass Mountain'' (1949), ''
Old Mother Riley's New Venture ''Old Mother Riley's New Venture'' is a low-budget black-and-white 1949 British comedy film, starring Arthur Lucan, Kitty McShane and Chili Bouchier. It is the twelfth in the long-running Old Mother Riley films, and was the first of the series ...
'' (1949), ''
Mister Drake's Duck ''Mister Drake's Duck'' is a 1951 British science-fiction comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Yolande Donlan, Jon Pertwee, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Reginald Beckwith. The screenplay concerns a farmer who discove ...
'' (1951), ''A Place in the Country'' (1967), '' The World of Coppard'' (1968), '' The World His Challenge'' (1967), '' The Highland Jaunt'' (1968) and the ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' serial ''
Spearhead from Space ''Spearhead from Space'' is the first serial of the seventh season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1970. It was the first ''Doctor Who'' ...
'' (1970). He was married three times. His first marriage in 1942 to Nora Francisca Blackburne ended in a divorce in 1946 following Nora's affair with the director Jack Lee, whom she subsequently married.Grove, Valerie. (1999) ''Laurie Lee: The Well-loved Stranger'' Viking. In December 1946 he married Elizabeth Grice, and in 1983 married Pamela Gwyneth Ward (née Owen-Williams).


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Adam 1913 births 2010 deaths Film people from Edinburgh People educated at Stowe School Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford British film editors BBC people People educated at Edinburgh Academy British television editors British Army personnel of World War II Television people from Edinburgh Scottish editors