Ross Devenish (born 15 November 1939) is a South African

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. His film ''

Marigolds in August ''Marigolds in August'' is a play by South Africa's Athol Fugard. Plot The play portrays the tension between three people (two black – one white) trying to make out a living. The play takes place near Port Elizabeth. Daan (a resident in a nea ...

'' (1980) was entered into the

30th Berlin International Film Festival The 30th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 18–29 February 1980. The Golden Bear was jointly awarded to '' Heartland'', directed by Richard Pearce, and '' Palermo or Wolfsburg'', directed by Werner Schroeter. The retros ...

, where it won the Berlin Bear Anniversary Prize. His feature film ''The Guest'' (1977) won a Bronze Leopard at

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

. Ross directed the eight-part adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' novel ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode Serial (literature), serial between 12 March 1852 and 12 September 1853. The novel has many characters and several subplots, and is told partly by th ...

'', which won three BAFTAs. His documentary about Native Americans, ''Now that the Buffalo's Gone'', won a Blue Riband Award. He was one of the two directors engaged on ''Goal!'', about the World Cup Competition being held in England in 1966. ''Goal!'' received the Robert Flaherty Award from BAFTA.

Biography

Born and raised in South Africa, Ross Devenish studied film-making 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 ...

. He started his career in the 1960s with documentaries. He filmed behind the Royalist lines during part of the

North Yemen Civil War The North Yemen civil war, also known as the 26 September revolution, was a civil war fought in North Yemen from 1962 to 1970 between partisans of the Kingdom of Yemen, Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic. The war ...

(1962-1970). He secretly entered the besieged town of

Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu P ...

in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and filmed the mercenaries trapped there after a failed coup. The next year he filmed in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

during the

1968 Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...

. After that Devenish traveled to the United States, where he spent most of a year making a film about contemporary Native Americans, called ''Now that the Buffalo's Gone''. Deciding to concentrate on his interest in drama, he returned to South Africa and began working with playwright

Athol Fugard Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (; 11 June 19328 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright and acclaimed as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaki ...

. Devenish directed Fugard, who acted in a 1973 film adaptation of his play '' Boesman and Lena.'' Devenish directed three additional films with screenplays by Fugard, including ''The Guest'' and ''Marigolds in August'', in their native South Africa. ''The Guest'' won a Bronze Leopard at Locarno and ''Marigolds in August'' a Silver Bear in Berlin. He has also worked extensively in television, both on TV movies and limited edition series. Devenish lives in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Selected filmography

Films

* ''Calling the Shots'' (TV film) (1993 ) * ''

'' (1980) * ''A Chip of Glass Ruby'' (1983) * ''The Guest: An episode in the Life of Eugène Marais'' (1977) * ''Boesman and Lena'' (1973)

Television

* ''

Dalziel and Pascoe Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill. Characterisation and style Dalziel is d ...

'' (TV Series) (3 episodes) ( 1996-2001) * ''Secrets of the Dead'' (2001) * ''Exit Lines'' (1997) * ''

A Clubbable Woman ''A Clubbable Woman'' is a 1970 crime novel by Reginald Hill, the first novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. It was dramatised as the first episode of the TV series ''Dalziel and Pascoe''. Publication history *1970, London: Collins Crime Cl ...

'' (1996) * ''

A Certain Justice ''A Certain Justice'' is a detective novel by British writer P. D. James, published in 1997 by Faber & Faber in the UK and by Alfred A. Knopf in the US. It was the tenth to feature her recurring character Adam Dalgliesh and the book was dedi ...

'' (TV series) ( 1998 ) * ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' (TV series) (2 episodes) ( 1997) * ''Mid-Life Crisis'' (1997) * ''Do Unto Others'' (1997) * ''True Tilda'' (TV series) ( 1997) * ''

A Touch of Frost ''A Touch of Frost'' is a British television detective mystery drama series starring David Jason produced by Yorkshire Television (later ITV Studios) for ITV from 6 December 1992 until 5 April 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. ...

'' (TV series) (1 episode) ( 1996 ) * ''Paying the Price'' (1996) * '' Between the Lines'' (TV series) (2 episodes) ( 1994 ) * ''Free Trade'' (1994) * ''Unknown Soldier'' (1994) * 1990–92 Agatha Christie: ''Poirot'' (TV series) (2 episodes) * ''One, Two, Buckle My Shoe'' (1992) * ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'' (1990) * ''4 Play'' (TV series) (1 episode) ( 1990 ) * ''Madly in Love'' (1990) * ''Screen Two'' (TV series) (1 episode) ( 1989 ) * ''Death of a Son'' (1989) * ''

The Happy Valley ''The Happy Valley'' is a British television drama, first shown on BBC One, BBC1 on 6 September 1987 in the ''Sunday Premiere'' strand. It was written by David Reid (television producer), David Reid, directed by Ross Devenish, and produced by C ...

'' (TV film) ( 1987 ) * ''Screenplay'' (TV series) (1 episode) ( 1986 ) * ''Asinamali'' (1986) * ''Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House'' (TV mini-series) (2 episodes) ( 1985 ) * ''Great Performances'' (TV series) (1 episode) ( 1970 ) * ''This Week'' (TV series) (1 episode) (1970 ) * ''Do Something!'' (1970) * ''Goal! The World Cup'' (documentary) (1967) * ''Hide Hide Producer'' (1 credit) * ''This Week'' (TV series) (producer - 1 episode) (1970 ) * ''Do Something!'' (1970) ... (producer)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devenish, Ross 1939 births Living people South African film directors Alumni of the London Film School