Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Jimmy Sangster (1927-2011)

Jimmy Sangster, screenwriter for Hammer Films, died on Friday, 19 August, at the age of 83.

James Henry Kinmel Sangster was born in Kinmel Bay, North Wales, on 2 December 1927 and began working in the film industry at the age of 16. He was working as a production manager at Hammer Films when he wrote his first film script, X The Unknown (1956), for which he received £200. His other films included The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), The Mummy (1959), The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), The Scream of Fear (1963) and Paranoiac (1963).In the 1970s, Sangster began writing for American television, including episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud, Ironside, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Wonder Woman. You can find an extensive list of his credits on the Internet Movie Database.

Sangster also wrote a number of novels, beginning with Private I (1967). His autobiography, Do You Want It Good or Tuesday was published in 1997. He was survived by his wife, actress Mary Peach, and son Mark James Sangster.

Obituaries: New York Times (21 August), The Guardian (22 August), The Independent (29 August).

Novels (series: James Reed; John Smith; Katy Touchfeather)
Private i (Smith). London, Triton Books, 1967; New York, Norton, 1967.
Foreign Exchange (Smith). London, Triton Books, 1968; New York, Norton, 1968.
Touchfeather (Touchfeather). London, Triton Books, 1968; New York, Norton, 1968.
Touchfeather, Too (Touchfeather). London, Triton Books, 1970; New York, Norton, 1970.
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Death Pedlar. London, Triton Books, 1971; New York, Dodd, 1972.
Snowball (Reed). New York, Holt, 1986; London, Robert Hale, 1989.
Blackball (Reed). New York, Holt, 1987; London, Robert Hale, 1989.
Hardball (Reed). New York, Holt, 1988; London, Robert Hale, 1990.

Novels as John Sansom
The Man Who Could Cheat Death, based on the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster & Barré Lyndon. London, Ace Books, 1959; as by Jimmy Sangster & Barré Lyndon, New York, Avon, 1959. 

Non-fiction
Do You Want it Good or Tuesday?. Midnight Marquee Press, 1997.
Inside Hammer: Behind the scenes at the legendary film studio. London, Reynolds & Hearn, 2001.
Screenwriting: Techniques for Success. London, Reynolds & Hearn, 2003.

Related Publications
The Revenge of Frankenstein, based on a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster, with additional dialogue by Hurford Janes. London, Panther Books, 1958.
The Siege of Sidney Street by Frederick Oughton, based on the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster. London, Pan Books, 1960.
Jack the Ripper by Stuart James, based on the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster. Derby, CT, Monarch Books, 1960.
The Terror of the Tongs, based on the screenplay by Jimmy Sangster. London, Digit Books, 1962.
Deadlier Than the Male by Henry Reymond, from an original story by Jimmy Sangster based on the novels of "Sapper". London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1966.
The Legacy by John Coyne, based on the story by Jimmy Sangster. New York, Berkley, 1979

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