Raymond Menmuir

Raymond Edward Menmuir (10 September 1930 - 26 March 2016) was a British-Australian director and producer.[1] His career included producing 44 episodes of The Professionals and directing 12 episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs.[2] He also produced an Australian version of The Professionals called Special Squad for the Ten Network in 1984.[3]

Raymond Menmuir
Born
Raymond Edward Menmuir

30 September 1930
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Died26 March 2016 (aged 85)
NationalityBritish
OccupationTelevision director, television producer

Early life

Menmuir was born in Perth, Western Australia, as the eldest of four children to Edward Menmuir and his wife Dorothy (née Williams). His father ensured Menmuir had a good education, at Wesley College.

Work

His first employment was as a reporter at the Perth Daily News, but he then transferred to the Australian Broadcasting Commission as a radio producer.[4]

He was deeply impressed by European culture, by seeing various films at the 1953 Festival of the Arts in Perth, and then took artistic inspiration from various films including Marcel Pagnol's Cesar, Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves, and Mikhail Kalatozov's The Cranes are Flying. This came out when he was soon directing dramas at the ABC's television drama department in Sydney. He directed the second play to be televised, J.B. Priestly's The Rose and Crown written specifically for television, and the first play from the new (1958) Gore Hill complex, Barbara Vernon's The Multi-Coloured Umbrella.[5] Annette Andre recalled him as "a good director, he knew what he was doing."[6]

He originally directed all sorts of programs for the ABC but in October 1959 was assigned to drama full time.[7]

Probably his greatest achievement in these years was the 5 October 1960 live production in prime time of the two-hour epic Shakespeare play, The Life and Death of King Richard II, using all three studios at Gore Hill.[5]

In 1961, Menmuir and his then wife Heidi moved to London. Menmuir directed for stage Alan Seymour's play, The One Day of the Year at Theatre Royal Stratford East, which started his association with many production venues.[8]

His productions included: Z Cars, The Avengers, No Hiding Place, Corridors of Power, and The Duchess of Duke Street.[9] In 1974 he directed the adaptation of the Lord Peter Wimsey story The Nine Tailors for the BBC.[10]

In 1978, he was offered full freedom of control as producer for London Weekend Television's show, The Professionals.[5]

During several returns to Australia, he was responsible for Ballad for One Gun (1963) (about Ned Kelly), and Special Squad and the movie Fortress for Crawford Productions.[11]

Personal life

In the UK, Menmuir lived in rural Buckinghamshire.

In his later years, Menmuir settled in Australia at Mirrabooka on the western side of Lake Macquarie

Menmuir was married twice, to Heidi (née Isenmann) and they had a daughter Anna, and to Jennifer (née Cooper) (d. 2010) with whom he had a daughter Fiona and son Iain. He then had a partner, Wendy Blacklock.[12]

Select Credits

References
  1. Schlesinger, Philip (1983). Televising "Terrorism". London: Comedia Pub. Group in assoc[i]ation with M. Boyars, London and New York. p. 73. ISBN 0-906890-39-X.
  2. "Raymond Menmuir | TV, Documentary and Other Appearances". AllMovie.
  3. Cribb, Tim (August 19, 1984). "Crawford's Cops Return". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. III, Harris M. Lentz (August 4, 2017). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2016. McFarland. ISBN 9781476670317 – via Google Books.
  5. "Obituary: Raymond Menmuir, Australian TV producer". www.scotsman.com.
  6. Vagg, Stephen (29 August 2020). "Annette Andre: My Brilliant Early Australian Career". Filmink.
  7. "To Concentrate on TV Drama". The Age. 15 October 1959. p. 26.
  8. Gilbert, W. Stephen (April 1, 2015). "Alan Seymour obituary" – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. "Raymond Menmuir". BFI.
  10. "The Nine Tailors Part 1 (1974)". BFI.
  11. "Fortress (1985) - Arch Nicholson | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  12. Obituary: Ray Menmuir 1930-2016 - ABC television pioneer who went on to direct Upstairs Downstairs and The Avengers, Storey Walton and Tom Jeffrey, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2016
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