Aida Young (née Cohen; 11 August 1920 – 12 August 2007) was a British film producer. Her credits include ''

She She or S.H.E. may refer to: Language * She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English Places * She County, Anhui ** She Prefecture, 589-1121 * She County, Hebei * She River, or Sheshui, Hubei * ...

''.

Life

Young was born in 1920 to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family in

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

where her family ran a pawnbroker shop. She wanted to be an actress and after college she worked for a company who made documentary films. Young entered the film industry in the 1950s. She was a second assistant director on the Hammer's success with ''

The Quatermass Xperiment ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial '' The Quatermass Experiment'' written by ...

'' (1955). Young was production manager of ''

The New Adventures of Charlie Chan ''The New Adventures of Charlie Chan'' is a crime drama series that aired in the United States in syndicated television from June 1957 to 1958. The first five episodes were made by Vision Productions in the United States, before production swit ...

'' (1957–58) for British television. She took the same role on ''The Invisible Man'' (1958–59) and ''

The Adventures of William Tell ''The Adventures of William Tell'' is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment. In the United States, the episodes aired on the syndicated NTA Film Network in 1958 ...

'' (1959–60), all half-hour programmes produced by ITC. With ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again ...

'' in 1964, produced by the same company, she was finally the producer. Young worked as an associate producer for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

on the romantic film ''Light in the Piazza'' (1962). Later, she had two successes with ''

'' and '' One Million Years BC''. These starred

Ursula Andress Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss actress and former model who has appeared in American, British, and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962). She later star ...

and

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch (; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her con ...

and were released in 1965 and 1966. One of her tasks as associate producer was to ensure that the press did not reveal that the glamorous lead,

, was actually a married mother of two. Two years later she was credited as a film producer for '' The Vengeance of She''. In 1970 she did another cave-girl movie, ''

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' (titled ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the World'' in the U.K.) is a 1970 British fantasy film from Hammer Films, written and directed by Val Guest, and starring Victoria Vetri. It was produced by Aida Young. This w ...

'' before Young did horror film for

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

, before switching to TV spinoff films. These were based on popular British TV comedies such as ''

Steptoe and Son ''Steptoe and Son'' is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black a ...

'' (1972) and ''

The Likely Lads ''The Likely Lads'' is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only te ...

'' (1976). In 1981 she worked on ''The Bunker'' in Paris which won an Emmy Award for NBC. Young married Gideon Young at Golders Green Synagogue on 21 July 1948. She died from pneumonia at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barnet Ho ...

in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

in 2007.

References

External links

*
Aida Young Interview
at

The British Entertainment History Project The British Entertainment History Project (BEHP) records and preserves interviews with the men and women who have worked in British film, television, radio and theatre industries over the last 100 years "to ensure that their lives and experiences ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Aida 1920 births 2007 deaths People from Stepney British film producers 20th-century British businesspeople