Peter William Murton (24 September 1924 – 15 December 2009) was a film art director and production designer. His father Walter W. Murton was also an art director and production designer. His son Simon Murton is also an art director.

Career

Murton worked as an art director for production designer

Ken Adam Sir Kenneth Adam (born Klaus Hugo George Fritz Adam; 5 February 1921 – 10 March 2016) was a German-British movie production designer, best known for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for '' Dr. Str ...

on the

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

film ''

Dr. Strangelove ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'') is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is loosely ...

''. Murton then did art direction on the next two

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

films - '' Goldfinger'' and '' Thunderball'' - for which Adam also did the production design. Murton was promoted to production designer on the 1974 Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun''. The production team chose Thailand as a primary location, following Murton's suggestion, after he saw pictures of the

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

bay in a magazine. Bond film historian Steven Jay Rubin faults ''The Man with the Golden Gun'' for not making good use of Murton's sets, especially the solar energy room. "Murton's interiors were well up to the standards expected on a Bond film." Rubin believes that the responsibility for the film's artistic failure "lay elsewhere." Murton wrote an article discussing Bond film gimmicks. Murton worked with producer

Harry Saltzman Herschel "Harry" Saltzman (; – ) was a Canadian theatre and film producer. He is best remembered for co-producing the first nine of the ''James Bond'' film series with Albert R. Broccoli. Apart from a ten-year stint living in St. Petersbu ...

on six films: three Bond films, the first two

Harry Palmer Harry Palmer is the name given to the anti-hero protagonist of several films based on spy novels written by Len Deighton, in which the main character is an unnamed intelligence officer. For convenience, the novels are also often referred to a ...

films, and Saltzman's unmade pet project ''The Micronauts''. On ''King Kong Lives'' Murton had to create forty miniature sets, which proved a challenge. Never in his career had he to create so many miniatures at once. Further, few of the art department crew had any experience making models.

Filmography

Art director

* '' Mr. Topaze'' (1961) * ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'', also known as ''Billy Budd, Foretopman'', is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed vers ...

'' (1962) * '' Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (1964) * ''

Woman of Straw ''Woman of Straw'' is a 1964 British crime thriller directed by Basil Dearden and starring Gina Lollobrigida and Sean Connery. It was written by Robert Muller (screenwriter), Robert Muller and Stanley Mann, adapted from the 1954 novel ''La Femme ...

'' (1964) * '' Goldfinger'' (1964) * ''

The Ipcress File ''The IPCRESS File'' is Len Deighton's first spy novel, published in 1962. The story involves Cold War brainwashing and includes scenes in Lebanon and on an atoll for a United States atomic weapon test, as well as information about Joe One, ...

'' (1965) * '' Thunderball'' (1965) * ''

Funeral in Berlin ''Funeral in Berlin'' is a 1964 spy novel by Len Deighton set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by '' The IPCRESS File'' (1962) and '' ...

'' (1966) * '' Half a Sixpence'' (1967) * ''

The Lion in Winter ''The Lion in Winter'' is a 1966 play by James Goldman, depicting the personal and political conflicts of Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their children and their guests during Christmas 1183. It premiered on Broadway at the ...

'' (1968) * '' Three Into Two Won't Go'' (1969) * ''

Night Watch Night Watch or Nightwatch may refer to: Being on duty at night * The nighttime shift worked by a security guard (night watchman) * Watchman (law enforcement), organized groups of men to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement * One of ...

'' (1973) * ''

The Black Windmill ''The Black Windmill'' is a 1974 British spy thriller film directed by Don Siegel and starring Michael Caine, John Vernon, Janet Suzman and Donald Pleasence. It was produced by Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown. Plot Two schoolboys are play ...

'' (1974) * '' Ike'' (TV mini-series) (1979) * ''

Stargate ''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...

'' (1994)

Production designer

* '' The Ruling Class'' (1972) * ''

The Possession of Joel Delaney ''The Possession of Joel Delaney'' is a 1970 horror novel by American writer Ramona Stewart. Its plot follows a woman who comes to believe her brother has been spirit possession, possessed by the spirit of a serial killer. It was adapted into th ...

'' (1972) * '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' (1974) * ''

Man Friday Friday is one of the main characters of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' and its sequel '' The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe''. Robinson Crusoe names the man Friday, with whom he cannot at first communicate, because they fir ...

'' (1975) * '' The Eagle Has Landed'' (1976) * ''

Death on the Nile ''Death on the Nile'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at ...

'' (1978) * ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

'' (1979) * ''

Superman II ''Superman II'' is a 1980 superhero film directed by Richard Lester and written by Mario Puzo and David Newman (screenwriter), David and Leslie Newman from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the second installment i ...

'' (1980) (

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...

directed scenes only) * ''

Superman III ''Superman III'' is a 1983 superhero film directed by Richard Lester from a screenplay by David Newman and Leslie Newman based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the third installment in the ''Superman'' film series and the sequel to ''S ...

'' (1983) * '' Sheena: Queen of the Jungle'' (1984) * ''

The Chain "The Chain" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on their 1977 album '' Rumours''. It is the only song from the album with writing credits for all five members (Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John ...

'' (1984) * ''

Spies Like Us ''Spies Like Us'' is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet ...

'' (1985) * ''

King Kong Lives ''King Kong Lives'' (released as ''King Kong 2'' in some countries) is a 1986 American monster adventure film directed by John Guillermin. Produced by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and featuring special effects by Carlo Rambaldi, the f ...

'' (1986) * ''

Just Ask for Diamond ''Just Ask for Diamond'', alternatively titled ''Diamond's Edge'', is a 1988 British comedy crime film directed by Stephen Bayly and starring Colin Dale, Saeed Jaffrey and Dursley McLinden. It is based on ''The Falcon's Malteser'' (1986), the ...

'' (1988) * ''

Blind Fury ''Blind Fury'' is a 1989 American action comedy film directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Rutger Hauer, Terry O'Quinn, Lisa Blount, Randall "Tex" Cobb, and Noble Willingham. It is a modernized, English-language remake of ''Zatoichi Challenge ...

'' (1989) * ''

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

'' (1991) * ''

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

'' (1992) * ''From Time to Time'' (short) (1992)

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*
Peter Murton
at the

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, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murton, Peter 1924 births 2009 deaths British film designers