Artist Ivor Beddoes…..Day 73 of Bond 365

Ivor Beddoes, Wikipedia

Ivor Beddoes

Passed away this day in 1981

Art Direction for Casino Royale (1967)

Sketch Artist for Diamonds Are Forever and The Spy Who Loved Me

Ivor William Gilmour Beddoes was born in a suburb of London. He was creatively minded in several arenas. He painted, danced, composed music, was a poet, and sketch artist. With his younger sister, they often sang and danced at family gatherings and later at local parties. While college, Beddoes earned money performing around London in order to pay for his art supplies and continue his studies.

El Daba Egypt, 1942

By the late 1920s, the financial crisis of the times severely limited Beddoes ability to find work in commercial art. He went back to school to learn dance techniques. He was invited to join one of the ballet troops, but declined because he would not have been able to live on the wages they would have paid. He was also looking to get married, which he would not have been able to do. Instead, he joined the Windmill Theatre, where he danced, sang, and became a character actor. He also began composing his own orchestral music for ballets. With war eminent, Beddoes was conscripted into the British Army.

The Tales of Hoffman (1951)

He served in the Middle East as a draughtsman for the Royal Signals Corps. He became part of the Field Entertainment Unit in Cairo. He studied all aspects of Egyptian life including learning Arabic. Beddoes sketched and painted during that time and his drawings and paintings are now owned at the Imperial War Museum in London (great museum, by the way, and a must see!).

Long Ships (1964)

After the war, he tried to return to Egypt, but his brother-in-law was able to secure Beddoes with important introductions to art directors at Shepperton Studios. The association led Beddoes to a career as sketch artist and art direction, including his own department, in a number of high profile films that included Black Narcissus (1947), The Tales of Hoffman (1951), The Haunting (1963), Superman (1978), Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Superman II (1980).

Beddoes’ art department at Technicolor closed in 1959 when Eastmancolor was introduced, so he left to go work with famed set designer, Ken Adam. Besides working on Diamonds Are Forever, he worked on Goodbye Mr. Chips and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (a cinematic masterpiece of art) among others.

If you want to look a more complete list of his filmography, look up Beddoes on Wikipedia because IMDB appears to be woefully incomplete.

Images of Beddoes mattes are from Matte Shot, a Tribute to Golden Era Special fx.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.