Anthony Frank Hinds (19 September 1922 – 30 September 2013
telegraph.co.uk, 3 October 2013), also known as Tony Hinds and John Elder, was an English screenwriter and producer.

Early life

The son of the founder of

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

, William Hinds, Anthony Hinds was born in

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is a suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon in northwest London. Prior to 1965 it was in Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and educated at St Paul's School. He briefly joined his father's business before his war service as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in the RAF during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

In 1946 Hinds returned to Hammer and initially produced a great many modest thrillers. One of these was ''The Dark Road'' (1947), one of the

quota quickies Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a restriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * ...

, which featured a jewellery shop called 'Hinds', a reference to his father's original business. This business had been divided in the 1920s between William and his brother Frank Hinds. Frank's part is now the F. Hinds national jewellery chain. In the summer of 1953 Hinds was enthralled by 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 ...

's ''

The Quatermass Experiment ''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells th ...

'', a six-part

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller written by

Nigel Kneale Thomas Nigel Kneale (18 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter and author, whose career spanned more than 50 years, between 1946 and 1997. Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elemen ...

. Hinds was so impressed by what he saw that he suggested Hammer buy the big screen rights. They approached the BBC and snapped up the rights. After requesting the new 'X' certificate from the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films A film, also known as a movie ...

, ''

The Quatermass Xperiment ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial '' The Quatermass Experiment'' written by ...

'' (1955) was a box-office success and was the first of the three

Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British E ...

cinema films based on the television serials. Hinds came up with the idea of hiring country houses and shooting films in the rooms and grounds of the locations, which saved the cost of kitting out a full studio. The company acquired Down Place, renaming it Bray Studios, and was based there until 1966. Under the pseudonym John Elder he was a prolific screenwriter and from the mid-1960s he concentrated on this activity, though he produced the TV series ''

Journey to the Unknown ''Journey to the Unknown'' is a British anthology television series, produced by Hammer Film Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It aired on ABC from September 26, 1968, to January 30, 1969.LWT London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

(1968–69) and '' The Lost Continent'' (1968). His last screenwriting credit was 1984's ''

The Masks of Death ''The Masks of Death'' is a 1984 British mystery television film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and John Mills as Doctor Watson. Plot In 1913, Sherlock Holmes, virtually in retirement, is persuaded by ...

''. The horror script ''The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula'', which he wrote in the 1970s for Hammer, was never filmed. In October 2015 it was presented as a live stage reading by the Mayhem Film Festival at the Broadway Cinema in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, featuring the actor and film historian

Jonathan Rigby Jonathan Rigby is an English actor and film historian who has written several books. '' Video Watchdog'' magazine described him as occupying "a proud place in the advance guard of film researchers, writers and critics," and in 2020 he was inducte ...

as narrator. In October 2017 a studio production of the script was broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, with narration by

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

Personal life and death

In 1956, Hinds married Jean Knowles, and they had two daughters. He died from complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

at his home in

Chadlington Chadlington is a village and civil parish in the Evenlode Valley about south of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village has five neighbourhoods: Brook End, Green End, Mill End, East End and West End. Archaeology There is a bowl barrow abo ...

, Oxfordshire, on 30 September 2013.

Selected filmography

* ''

Meet Simon Cherry ''Meet Simon Cherry'' is a 1949 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Hugh Moxey. The screenplay was by Grayson and A. R. Rawlinson based on the BBC radio series ''Meet the Rev'' by Gale Pedrick, fea ...

'' (1949) * '' Celia'' (1949) * '' The Adventures of PC 49'' (1949) * '' Room to Let'' (1950) * '' A Case for PC 49'' (1951) * '' The Dark Light'' (1951) * '' To Have and to Hold'' (1951) * '' Wings of Danger'' (1952) * ''

Death of an Angel ''Death of an Angel'' is a 1952 British B movie, 'B' crime drama directed by Charles Saunders (director), Charles Saunders and starring Patrick Barr, Jane Baxter and Jean Lodge. The screenplay was by Reginald Long, based on an original story ca ...

'' (1952)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinds, Anthony 1922 births 2013 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English screenwriters British film studio executives Deaths from Parkinson's disease in England English film producers English male screenwriters Hammer Film Productions people People educated at St Paul's School, London Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches