Samuel Anthony Tenser (10 August 1920 – 5 December 2007)Gavin Gaugha
"Obituary: Tony Tenser"
''The Guardian'', 13 March 2008 was an English-born film producer of

Lithuanian-Jewish {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 6 ...

descent. He began as the producer of low budget

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

s before moving into mainstream productions.

Life and career

Raised in a tenement in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

, with the family doing piecework for local tailors, Tenser was one of seven children.Matthew Swee
"The lost worlds of British cinema: The horror"
''The Independent'', 29 January 2006 After war service as a technician in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, he became a trainee manager for the ABC Cinemas circuit.Tom Vallanc
"Tony Tenser: Film producer and distributor who dubbed Bardot a 'sex kitten'"
''The Independent'', 20 December 2007 Working as head of publicity for Miracle Films, Tenser coined the term "

sex kitten Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inherit ...

" for the French movie star

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress, singer, and model as well as an animal rights activist. Famous for portraying characters with Hedonism, hedonistic life ...

when ''The Light Across the Street'' (''La lumière d'en face'', 1955) was released in the UK. In 1960, with business partner Michael Klinger, he opened the Compton Cinema Club, a private members club. Initially the distributors of foreign films, they diversified into production in partnership with the owners of the Cameo chain of cinema, and founded Compton Cameo Films. The first film of the new company was '' Naked as Nature Intended'' (1961), a nudist film. Tenser and Klinger established the Compton Group as a vehicle for their film-making ambitious, and amongst their early productions were '' Repulsion'' (1965) and ''

Cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

'' (1966), the first two films in English made by the Polish director

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...

. Tenser left the Group in 1966 and founded his own production company

Tigon British Film Productions Tigon British Film Productions or Tigon was a film production and distribution company, founded by Tony Tenser in 1966. It is best remembered for its horror films, particularly ''Witchfinder General (film), Witchfinder General'' (directed by ...

in 1966, which made other mainstream films such as Michael Reeves' two features '' The Sorcerers'' (1966) and '' Witchfinder General'' (1967), as well as other horror films. After production of '' The Creeping Flesh'' (1973) concluded, Tenser resigned from Tigon. Following his last film as executive producer, '' Frightmare'' (1974), he retired from the film industry. With his much younger third wife, he settled in Southport in 1978; the couple later separated, and Tenser spent his last years in a care home opposite the house he had shared with his wife. Tenser's career as a film producer was extensively documented in the book ''Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser'' published by Fab Press in 2005 and well received by reviewers in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. The book was written by film critic John Hamilton, who conducted over 18 hours of taped conversations with Tenser, as well as exclusive interviews with many of the actors and craftsmen he employed, including: the directors Michael Armstrong, Peter Sasdy,

Freddie Francis Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director whose filmmaking career spanned over 60 years, from the late 1930s until the late 2000s. One of the most celebrated British cinemato ...

and

Vernon Sewell Vernon Campbell Sewell (4 July 1903 – 21 June 2001) was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor. Sewell was born in London, England, and was educated at Marlborough College. He directed more than 30 films during his c ...

; and actors

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

Julie Ege Julie Ege (; 12 November 1943 – 29 April 2008) was a Norwegian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She appeared in many British films of the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Ege was born in Sandnes, the daughter of brickyard worker ...

and

Norman Wisdom Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010), was an English actor, comedian, musician, and singer, best known for his series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966, in which he portrayed the endearingly inept charact ...

. Hamilton also had access to original production files and correspondence.

Select Credits

*'' Naked - As Nature Intended'' (1961) *'' My Bare Lady'' (1962) *'' That Kind of Girl'' (1963) *'' The Yellow Teddybears'' (1963) *'' Saturday Night Out'' (1964) *''

The Black Torment ''The Black Torment'' (a.k.a. ''Estate of Insanity'') is a 1964 British gothic horror film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring John Turner, Heather Sears and Ann Lynn. It was scripted by brothers Donald and Derek Ford. Plot The ...

'' (1964) *'' London in the Raw'' (1964) *''

The Pleasure Girls ''The Pleasure Girls'' is a 1965 British drama film directed and written by Gerry O'Hara and starring Francesca Annis, Ian McShane and Klaus Kinski. Plot When Sally moves to London to pursue a modelling career, she moves in with Angela and De ...

'' (1965) *'' Primitive London'' (1965) *''

A Study in Terror A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

'' (1965) *'' Repulsion'' (1965) *''

Cul-de-Sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

'' (1966) *'' Secrets of a Windmill Girl'' (1966) *'' The Projected Man'' (1966) *'' The Sorcerers'' (1967) *'' Witchfinder General'' (1968) *'' The Blood Beast Terror'' (1968) *'' Curse of the Crimson Altar'' (1968) *'' Love in Our Time'' (1968) *'' What's Good for the Goose'' (1968) *''

The Haunted House of Horror ''The Haunted House of Horror'' (also known as ''Horror House'' and ''The Dark'') is a 1969 British horror film directed by Michael Armstrong and starring Frankie Avalon and Jill Haworth. it was written by Armstrong and Gerry Levy (as Peter ...

'' (1968) *'' Zeta One'' (1969) *''

The Body Stealers ''The Body Stealers'', also known as ''Invasion of the Body Stealers'' and ''Thin Air'', is a 1969 British science fiction film directed by Gerry Levy, and starring George Sanders and Maurice Evans. Two investigators uncover an alien plot to st ...

'' (1969) *''

Monique Monique is a female given name. It is the French form of the name Monica. The name has enjoyed some popularity in the United States since about 1955, and is less common in other English-speaking countries except for Canada although mostly used ...

'' (1970) *'' The Blood on Satan's Claw'' (1970) *''

Black Beauty ''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was written from a horse as main character's perspective. She wrote it in the last years of her life, during which s ...

'' (1971) *''

Hannie Caulder ''Hannie Caulder'' is a 1971 British Western (genre), Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, and Ernest Borgnine. Plot Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife, living with her husband at a horse station between ...

'' (1971) *'' Doomwatch'' (1972) *'' The Creeping Flesh'' (1973) *''

Not Now, Darling ''Not Now, Darling'' is a 1967 farce written by English playwrights John Chapman and Ray Cooney, first staged at the Richmond Theatre, in Richmond, England prior to a long West End run. The production starred Donald Sinden and Bernard Cribb ...

'' (1973) *'' Frightmare'' (1974)

References

External links

*
Detailed document on Tenser's careerTenser Biography at Allmovie.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenser, Tony 1920 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople English film producers English Jews English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent People from Shoreditch Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Tigon British Film Productions

Life and career

Select Credits

References

Further reading

External links