Herbert Sydney Wilcox was born in Cork, Ireland on
April 19, 1892 and attended school at Brighton. Wilcox was a journalist
before WWI. During the war, Wilcox was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.
(This is the information that was consistantly given by Wilcox, many say
that he was such a showman that these stats were made up by Wilcox to sound
more romantic, and that he may have actually been born and raised in South
London)
After the war, he used his savings to start a film
distribution company, Astra Films,in 1919. In 1922, Wilcox went into production
with Graham Cutts and formed Graham Wilcox Productions. They produced several
films and also did their own distribution.
In 1924, Cutts left to join Michael
Balcon at Gainsborough
Pictures.
At the same time, American J. D. Williams and South
African W. Schlesinger went into partnership for form British National Films.
Wilcox joined them and helped with the building of a new studio in Elstree
called British National Studio. Unfortunately, this partnership didn't last
long. The following year, Williams and Schlesinger began constant fighting
and brought in John Maxwell
as solicitor. Maxwell bought into British National to finance more construction.
As the conflict between Williams and Schlesinger became more heated, Maxwell
went to court and took over British National Films and Studio.
In 1926, Wilcox then formed a partnership with Nelson
Keys, a well known comedian, to form British and Dominions Film Corp with
the initial intent to primarily produce comedy shorts. Wilcox then went
next door to British National and leased some of the buildings that he had
just helped to build and called their new studio Imperial Studio. He contracted
with W & F Film Service for distribution.
They soon expanded from comedies into quota quickies
for Paramount.
Wilcox was one of the first producers to understand the importance of sound,
so Wilcox rushed to Hollywood to learn first hand how it was done. He even
made a short film in the US to gain the experience. Upon his return, Wilcox
installed Western Electric sound equipment. He also brought over American
actress Dorothy Gish to star in his first sound film, Wolves in 1930.
With one of the first sound stages in the UK, Imperial
Studios became popular with smaller production companies wanting the use
their sound stages. While other studios were adding sound, the Imperial
Studios stages were utilized by major production companies such as Michael
Balcon at Gainsborough.
In 1932, Wilcox also signed to produce more quality
films for United Artists
in an attempt to lure more US actors and gain more of the US market. The
following year, he also signed a 10 year contract with Paramount British.
Being a sharp businessman, when Alexander Korda wanted to do several United
Artists films with US funding, Wilcox agree to make an exception in his
exclusive contract with United Artists IF Korda would make the films at
Imperial Studios.
In 1936, tragedy struck when Imperial Studios caught
fire and burned to the ground. At the time, the film London
Melody starring Anna Neagle (later to become his wife) was in the middle
of production. This hit at a time when funding was difficult and Wilcox
turned to J. Arthur Rank to help finish the project at his new Pinewood
Studios. When Wilcox collected his insurance money for the studio, he
used it to invest into part ownership of Pinewood.
In 1937, Wilcox became chairman and managing director
for Imperator Film Productions. Imperator films were made at Pinewood and
Wilcox signed a distribution agreement with RKO, directing
several successful films before the war started.
In 1941, Wilcox and Neagle left for Hollywood to
try to make films there. He directed several films for RKO. With only mediocre
success, they returned to the UK after the war to try to continue her film
popularity. Wilcox signed a distribution agreement with 20th Century Fox
continued to produce films until 1964 when he retired.
Herbert Wilcox died May 15, 1977 after a long illness.
On the personal side:
Wilcox married Maude Bower and had three daughters
and one son;
Wilcox had seen and hired Anna Neagle (born Florence
Marjorie Robertson from Essex) when he was with British National in 1929.
He developed her career making her one of the most popular leading ladies
of the time. They married in 1943 and they remained married until Wilcox
died in 1977. They had no children.
