Sarah Lawson (7 October 1955 – 8 November 2008) was an English film producer.

Career

From 1982 to 1985, she was vice president of planning and development for DL Taffner Ltd, Los Angeles, and from 1995 to 1996 she was

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Anglia Television Entertainment Ltd – a joint venture between

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

and the ITV Company. She is known for her work on '' The Dawning'', starring

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Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage and screen actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved leading man star status in the film '' Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by '' The Third M ...

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man, and has since transitioned into a character actor. He has received List of awards ...

Rebecca Pidgeon Rebecca Pidgeon (born October 10, 1965) is an American-British actress who has appeared on stage and in feature films. She is also a singer, songwriter and recording artist. Early life Pidgeon was born to English parents in Cambridge, Massachus ...

and

Adrian Dunbar Adrian Dunbar (born 1 August 1958) is an Irish actor, director, and singer from Northern Ireland, known for his television and theatre work. He co-wrote and starred in the 1991 film '' Hear My Song'', nominated for Best Original Screenplay at t ...

and several television films and series (such as ''

Seekers The Seekers, or Legatine-Arians as they were sometimes known, were an English dissenting group that emerged around the 1620s, probably inspired by the preaching of three brothers – Walter, Thomas, and Bartholomew Legate. Seekers considered a ...

'', starring

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winner

Brenda Fricker Brenda Fricker (born 17 February 1945) is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Awar ...

, and ''Life After Life'', written by

Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Adam Lynn (born 3 April 1943) is an English film director, screenwriter, and actor. He directed the comedy films '' Clue'', '' Nuns on the Run'', '' My Cousin Vinny'', and '' The Whole Nine Yards''. He also co-created and co-wrote the ...

). She also founded a production company, Lawson Productions, through which she produced most of her projects. She took a hiatus in the late 1990s to start a family and pursue other non-producing media related activities. At the end of her life in 2008 she was working with Anne Chambers, author of the biography ''Granuaile: Ireland's Pirate Queen'', on a film about

Grace O'Malley Gráinne O'Malley (, ; – ), also known as Grace O'Malley, was the head of the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland, and the daughter of Eóghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. Upon her father's death, she took over active leadership of the lords ...

. The project is slated for release in 2010, and is backed by the

Irish Film Board Not to be confused with Northern Ireland Screen. Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann or the Irish Film Board, is Republic of Ireland, Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television an ...

. Lawson also wrote and produced extensively for radio. She developed and executive produced the '' Baldi'' series, starring

David Threlfall David John Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series '' Shameless''. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In Ap ...

which aired its fifth season in 2008.

Lawson Productions

Lawson Productions was, from 1985 to 1988, with Taft Entertainment, known as the Taft Entertainment/Lawson Group. From 1988 it joined up with

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

, with offices in London and Los Angeles. It became independent later in 1988, with its first project being ''Life After Life''. It is now primarily based in London and Dublin.

Personal life

Lawson was the daughter of Lt.-Col. Sir William Edward Harry Lawson, 5th Baron Burnham and Anne Petherick. Educated at Heathfield School in

Ascot, Berkshire Ascot () is a town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is south of Windsor, east of Bracknell and west of London. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the Royal Ascot meeti ...

, she was a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

and a

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwr ...

before becoming a film producer. From 1982 to 1991 she was married to

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...

, theatrical agent Anita Land introduced them. After their divorce she remarried, and had two children. Lawson was also a Governor at St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin. During her hiatus from her media work, she spent time renovating the historic property Ardbraccan. She lived in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and London. Lawson died on 8 November 2008 after a long battle with cancer."Farewell, noble Sarah, the bravest person I ever met" – Article in ''The Irish Independent'' on the death of Sarah
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Selected credits

Producer

Writer

References

External links

*

* * * * ttp://www.graceomalley.com/ Grace O'Malley – Anne Chambers' websitebr>Lawson Productions at VisualNetThe BBC Page of the ''Baldi'' Radio Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Sarah 1955 births 2008 deaths Daughters of barons English film producers English radio producers British women film producers Spouses of life peers 20th-century English businesspeople British women radio producers