Ivor David Munro (1 July 1944 – 5 August 1999)David Boardma

''The Independent'', 12 August 1999 was an English

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

maker. He collaborated on 20 documentary films for television with the Australian-born journalist, John Pilger, with many of their works receiving awards. '' Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia'', their 1979 documentary about the suffering people of

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, resulted in viewers donating more than £45 million in aid.

Early life and education

His parents were Hugh Munro (an actor and television director) and Pamela Barnard (an actress and later longstanding floor manager in Drama at the

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 ...

). His grandfather was the actor Ivor Barnard. Ivor Munro had a brother Tim Munro, who also became an actor, and a sister Hatty. Following a series of jobs, beginning as a farm labourer after leaving school, Munro became an actor for a time. He appeared in such series as ''

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

'', (1966–67), ''

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 ...

,'' ''Tightrope'' (1972), and in the play ''The Bells'' ( Vaudeville Theatre).

Career in film-making

A connection with the actor David Swift via Tempest Films,David Swif
"David Munro"
''The Guardian'', 14 December 1999 an independent production company, led to Munro being introduced to the Australian-born journalist John Pilger. The two men first worked together on ''Do You Remember Vietnam?'' (1978), first shown by the ITV network. In 1979 their film, '' Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia'', exposed the extent of the genocide perpetrated by

Pol Pot Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...

and the

Communist Party of Kampuchea The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also known as the Khmer Communist Party,
Country Data. . was a

against the people of

. Broadcast on British TV, it resulted in nearly £45 million being donated spontaneously by viewers, to help Cambodians. In total Munro and Pilger collaborated on 20 films for television, for which Munro gained several awards and commendations. Munro made several films on his own: notably, ''Knots'' (with the Actors Company) based on R. D. Laing's poems; ''Going Back,'' about the experiences of the first four US soldiers to return to Vietnam after the war; and ''The Four Horseman'', his trilogy of films about war in the

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

Marriages and family

He was married three times, the first two relationships were with the actresses Sharon Duce and Susan Penhaligon. His son with Penhaligon, Truan Munro, has worked in the film industry. His third wife was Layhing Siu, to whom he was married at the end of his life. Their daughter Natalia, was born eighteen months before Munro's death from cancer. He also had a step-daughter, Pilar.

References

External links

* 1944 births 1999 deaths English documentary filmmakers English male television actors English television directors 20th-century English male actors {{tv-director-stub