Alfred Edward Daff (18 August 1902 – 1991) was an Australian born executive who became head of

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

Biography

Daff was born in Melbourne. He joined the Melbourne office of

at 18 years of age. In 1922 he took early aerial newsreel footage of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. In 1924 he made a 20-minute send-up of wrestling called '' Who's Who In The Wrestling World - And Why?''. In 1935 he visited the Universal Studios in Hollywood. The following year he was appointed in charge of Universal's Japanese territories; two years after that he became Far East supervisor, then also the Middle East. In 1943 he became Universal Foreign Supervisor, covering all markets outside the US. In 1949 he became President of Universal International Films, the overseas subsidiary of Universal Pictures Company. In 1952 he became Executive Vice President of Universal Pictures Company in 1952. He retired in 1958 but continued working as a consultant until the 1970s. Daff was married twice and had one daughter.

''Al Daff''

Daff was the topic of a 1975 documentary ''Al Daff''. The documentary consists of Daff being interviewed by

Ken G. Hall Kenneth George Hall, AO, OBE (22 February 1901 – 8 February 1994), better known as Ken G. Hall, was an Australian film producer and director, considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Australian film industry. H ...

. He offered advice for Australian filmmakers and reminisced about his own career.Curators notes on ''Al Daff''
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

References

External links

Papers of Al Daff
at

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

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''Al Daff'' film
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...

Al Daff
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Daff, Al 1902 births 1991 deaths Australian filmmakers Businesspeople from Melbourne