Edward Mirzoeff CVO,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 11 April 1936) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

television producer and

documentary 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 ...

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

Early life

Edward Mirzoeff was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents. His parents were from Uzbekistan, where his father was a businessman in the fur trade. His family feld around the time the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

took over the Uzbek government. They reached Palestine, before moving on to England. He explained about his family that "They were traditionally Jewish in their beliefs". Mirzoeff won an Open Scholarship in Modern History to

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 ...

in 1953, obtaining a BA (Oxon) in 1956, MA (Oxon) in 1960.

Film work

Mirzoeff worked at

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

from 1963 to 2000, latterly as Executive Producer, Documentaries. His wide-ranging studies of British institutions for 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 ...

include the

Royal Green Jackets The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry). History The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgam ...

(a former

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

, the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

, the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

and the Ritz Hotel. Mirzoeff was given unprecedented access and attracted record-breaking audiences for his 1992 portrait of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, '' Elizabeth R.'', marking her 40th anniversary on the throne. Subsequently, he was appointed Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

. Mirzoeff also made a series of films with the late Poet Laureate Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

(notably ''

Metro-land Metro-land (or Metroland – see note on spelling, below) is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north-west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century th ...

'', 1973, '' A Passion for Churches'', 1974, and "The Queen's Realm - A Prospect of England", 1977) and directed many other leading presenters, including

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy, (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author. As well as his wartime service in the Royal Navy, he is known for presenting many current affairs programmes and ...

and

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was a conservative British journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, i ...

. Many of his films, such as "The Front Garden", and "The Englishwoman and the Horse", are poetic celebrations of Englishness. He has edited numerous series, from the innovative ''

Bird's-Eye View A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object or location from a very steep viewing angle, creating a perspective (graphical), perspective as if the observer were a bird in flight looking downward. Bird's-eye views can be an aerial photog ...

'', shot entirely from a helicopter (1969-1971) to the controversial "Real Lives", "Year of the French" (1982–83), and the BBC2 ''

40 Minutes ''40 Minutes'' was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, ''Forty Minutes On''. See also * ''Sixty Minutes ''60 Minu ...

'' documentary strand, which he edited for four years, 1985–89. He was Executive Producer of numerous other programmes and series, including "Pandora's Box", "The Ark", "The House", "Full Circle with Michael Palin" and "Lie of the Land". He produced the first ten of the annual Richard Dimbleby Lectures (BBC1, 1972-1982), and three series of lectures by the historian AJP Taylor. In 2022 he was credited as Consultant on the cinema documentary ''Elizabeth'', directed by Roger Michell.

Awards and honours

Mirzoeff's awards include four

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

s (among them the Alan Clarke Award for outstanding creative contribution to television), the Samuelson Award, a

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Television Award, British Video Award, an International

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

, and the awards of the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Royal Philharmonic Society. Mirzoeff was appointed CVO in 1993, and

in 1997 for his contribution to Documentary. He was Chairman of BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts), from 1995 to 1997, and Chairman of The Grierson Trust from 2002 to 2006. He has served on the Boards of the David Lean BAFTA Foundation, the Salisbury Cathedral Council, and the Directors' and Producers' Rights Society, and is a Vice-President of The Betjeman Society.

Personal life

Mirzoeff married Judith Topper in 1961 and has three sons and five grandchildren. He was elected to the

Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a private members' club in London, founded in 1831 as a club for "actors and men of refinement to meet on equal terms". It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world. Its 1,500 members include many actors, writers, ...

, London, in 2003.

References

External links

*
BFI page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirzoeff, Edward 1936 births Living people British documentary filmmakers Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order People from Hendon British Jews BAFTA winners (people) International Emmy Award winners British Academy of Film and Television Arts