Sir Robert James Kerridge (30 October 1901 – 26 April 1979) was a New Zealand businessman, cinema proprietor, film distributor, tourism promoter and entrepreneur.
Kerridge was born in
Christchurch, New Zealand, on 30 October 1901. He developed a theatre chain that owned or controlled 133 cinemas, the biggest exhibition chain in New Zealand or Australia. In 1946, Kerridge sold 50 per cent of his cinema chain to the
J. Arthur Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertical integration, vertically integrated film company in the ...
of London, netting the vendors almost £1 million, and a
Rolls-Royce car for Kerridge. The chain was renamed Kerridge Odeon.
In the
1962 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kerridge was appointed a
Knight Bachelor, for public services. He was buried at
Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of
Meadowbank.
References
1901 births
1979 deaths
20th-century New Zealand businesspeople
People from Christchurch
New Zealand Knights Bachelor
Burials at Purewa Cemetery
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