Michael Winner

Michael Winner
Winner in 2010
Born	Robert Michael Winner (1935-10-30)30 October 1935 Hampstead, London, England
Died	21 January 2013(2013-01-21) (aged 77) Woodland House, Kensington, London, England
Occupation	Film director and producer, food critic, media personality
Years active	1955–2012
Spouse(s)	Geraldine Lynton-Edwards (m. 2011–13)[1][2] (his death)

Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was an English film director and producer, and a restaurant critic for The Sunday Times.

Early life

Winner was an only child,^[3] born in Hampstead,^[4] London, England, to Helen (née Zlota)^[4] and George Joseph Winner (1910–1975), a company director.^[5][6] His family was Jewish;^[7] his mother was Polish and his father of Russian extraction.^[8] Following his father's death, Winner's mother gambled recklessly and sold art and furniture worth around £10m at the time, bequeathed to her not only for her life but to Michael thereafter. She died aged 78 in 1984.^[9]

He was educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read law and economics. He also edited the university's student newspaper, Varsity (he was the youngest ever editor up to that time, both in age and in terms of his university career, being only in the second term of his second year). Winner had earlier written a newspaper column, 'Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip,' in the Kensington Post from the age of 14. The first issue of Showgirl Glamour Revue in 1955 has him writing another film and showbusiness gossip column, "Winner's World".^[10] Such jobs allowed him to meet and interview several leading film personalities, including James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. He also wrote for the New Musical Express.^[11]

Early career

He began his screen career as an assistant director of BBC television programmes, cinema shorts, and full-length "B" productions, occasionally writing screenplays. In 1957 he directed his first travelogue, This is Belgium, shot largely on location in East Grinstead.^[3] His first on-screen credit was earned as a writer for the 1958 crime film Man with a Gun directed by Montgomery Tully. Winner's first credit on a cinema short was Associate Producer on the 1959 film Floating Fortress produced by Harold Baim. Winner's first project as a lead director involved another story he wrote, Shoot to Kill, in 1960. He would regularly edit his own movies, using the pseudonym "Arnold Crust".

British films

In the early 1960s, Winner's films followed fashion. His second project, Some Like It Cool (1961), is the tale of a young woman who introduces her prudish husband and in-laws to the joys of nudism. Filmed at Longleat, he was afraid the sight of bare flesh would offend the magistrate for the area so he confided his worries to the landowner. ‘Don’t worry,’ said the Marquess, ‘I am the local magistrate.’^[12]

After releasing family drama Old Mac and a mystery called Out of the Shadow in 1961, Winner brushed with Gilbert and Sullivan, writing the screenplay and directing a version of The Mikado titled The Cool Mikado (1962), starring Frankie Howerd which was produced by Harold Baim. It was preceded by the Billy Fury-led musical Play It Cool (1962) and comedy short Behave Yourself (1962). His first significant project was West 11 (1963), a realistic tale of London drifters starring Alfred Lynch.

Winner's film The System (1964) began a partnership with actor Oliver Reed that would last for six films over a 25-year period. Winner and Reed closed out the 1960s as a pair with The Jokers (1967, also starring Michael Crawford), comedy-drama I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), and the World War II satire Hannibal Brooks (1969). A non-Reed comedy, You Must Be Joking! (1965) with Denholm Elliott, and an ambitious Olympic drama, The Games, (1970) were also made.

American films

Hannibal Brooks drew notice in Hollywood and Winner soon received an opportunity to direct his first American film, which was Lawman (1971) starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Duvall.

The turning point came in 1972, as he first directed Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers, a prequel to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, then made his earliest efforts with box office star Charles Bronson in Chato's Land, recounting a mixed race American Indian fighting with Whites, and The Mechanic, a thriller in which professional assassins are depicted. The following year, Winner cast Lancaster again in the espionage drama Scorpio, and worked with Bronson on The Stone Killer, in collaboration with producer Dino De Laurentiis.

In 1974, Winner and Bronson collaborated on Death Wish, a film that defined the subsequent careers of both men. Based on a novel by Brian Garfield and adapted to the screen by Wendell Mayes, Death Wish was originally planned for director Sidney Lumet under contract with United Artists. The commitment of Lumet to another film and UA's questioning of its subject matter led to an eventual production by Dino De Laurentiis through Paramount Pictures. Death Wish tracks Paul Kersey, a liberal New York architect who becomes a gun-wielding vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter is raped. With a script adjusted to Bronson's persona, the film generated major controversy during its screenings and was one of the year's highest grossers.

Following the release of Death Wish, Winner became primarily known as an action film director. Most of his attempts to branch into other genres failed at the box office. In 1975 Winner directed Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (released 1976), an animal comedy starring Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, and Milton Berle. Also of modest success was his horror film The Sentinel (1977), the remake of Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep (1978), and the organized crime thriller Firepower (1979) with Sophia Loren.

By the early 1980s, Winner found himself in great need of a successful film and accepted Charles Bronson's request to film Death Wish II, a sequel to the 1974 hit. Bronson had already signed a lucrative deal with Cannon Films, independent producer of exploitation fare and marginal art house titles. The sequel, co-starring Bronson's wife Jill Ireland, is considered a rehash of Death Wish with violence raised to more graphic levels.

As with fellow British director J. Lee Thompson, Cannon Films became Winner's mainstay during the 1980s. His reputation was already on the decline before releasing two failures, a remake of The Wicked Lady (1983) with Faye Dunaway and the generic thriller Scream for Help (1984). Winner made a final splash, however, with Death Wish 3 in 1985, which was set in New York City but filmed mostly in London for budgetary reasons.

Winner's output declined after Death Wish 3. He directed adaptations of the Alan Ayckbourn musical play A Chorus of Disapproval with Anthony Hopkins and the Agatha Christie novel Appointment with Death in 1988. After Cannon Films entered bankruptcy, Winner confined himself to British productions with the Michael Caine and Roger Moore farce Bullseye! (1990), Dirty Weekend (1993) starring Lia Williams, and Parting Shots (1999). In 1994 he appeared as a guest artist alongside Joan Collins, Christopher Biggins and Marc Sinden (who in 1983 had appeared in Winner's The Wicked Lady) in Steven Berkoff's film version of his own play Decadence.^[13]

Police Memorial Trust

Winner was an active proponent of law enforcement issues and established the Police Memorial Trust after WPC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered in 1984. Thirty-six local memorials honouring police officers who died in the line of duty have been erected since 1985, beginning with Fletcher's in St. James's Square, London. The National Police Memorial, opposite St. James's Park at the junction of Horse Guards Road and The Mall, was also unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 April 2005.^[14]

In 2006, it was revealed that Winner had been offered but declined an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his part in campaigning for the Police Memorial Trust. Winner remarked "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross Station."^[15] Winner subsequently alleged (on his Twitter page) that he had also turned down a knighthood.^[16][17]

Winner's Dinners

Winner remained prominent in British life for other reasons, including his outspoken restaurant reviews. His fame as a restaurant critic was such that, at a Cornwall cafe, an unconsumed piece of his serving of lemon drizzle cake was incorporated into the Museum of Celebrity Leftovers.^[18] Winner wrote his column, "Winner's Dinners", in The Sunday Times for more than twenty years.^[19] On 2 December 2012 he announced that he was to contribute his last review because of poor health, which had put him in hospital eight times in the previous seven months.^[20]

Other media activity

He was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions and later appeared on television programmes including the BBC TV’s Question Time and Have I Got News for You. He was an honorary member of BAFTA and of the Directors Guild of Great Britain. His autobiography Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts was published by Robson Books in 2006. The book largely describes his experiences with many big-screen actors. He also wrote a dieting book, The Fat Pig Diet Book. He also featured in TV commercials that he himself directed for insurance company esure between 2002 and 2009, with his trade-mark catchphrase "Calm down, dear! It's just a commercial!". He is referred to repeatedly in the QI episode "Illness".

Political views

Winner was an outspoken character.^[21] He was a member of the Conservative Party and supporter of prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Winner was also praised for having progressive views on gay rights, in particular during an episode of Richard Littlejohn Live and Uncut, where he attacked the presenter (who had been in the midst of an attack on two lesbian guests) for his stance on same-gender marriage and parenting, going so far as to say to him "[they] have come across with considerable dignity and you have come across as an arsehole."^[22] After Winner's death, this moment was brought up many times in eulogies to him.^[23][24][25]

Interests and hobbies

Winner was an art collector, and a connoisseur of British illustration.^[26] Winner's art collection includes works by Jan Micker, William James, Edmund Dulac, E. H. Shepard, Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen and Beatrix Potter.^[26] His collection once included almost 200 signed colour-washed illustrations by Donald McGill.^[26]

Winner spent his free time gardening (“my garden is floodlit, so I quite often garden after midnight”) or with a string of girlfriends, notably the actress Jenny Seagrove.^[27] He claimed that his life had not altered in the past 40 years: “I do essentially the same things I did as an 18-year-old,” he said. “I go on dates, I make films, I write. Nothing has really changed.”^[3]

Personal life

Winner, with Geraldine Lynton-Edwards, at a book signing for his autobiography

Winner became engaged to Geraldine Lynton-Edwards in 2007. They had met in 1957 when he was a 21-year-old film-maker and she was a 16-year-old actress and ballet dancer. He stated "I have told Geraldine that it took me 72 years to get engaged so she's not to hold her breath for the marriage".^[28] However, they did marry, on 19 September 2011^[29] at Chelsea Town Hall, London.^[30] Michael and Shakira Caine were witnesses to the ceremony.

Winner lived in the former home of painter Luke Fildes in Holland Park, Woodland House, designed for Fildes by Richard Norman Shaw.^[31][32] It was announced in 2008 that Winner intended to leave his house as a museum, but discussions with Kensington and Chelsea council apparently stalled after they were unable to meet the £15 million cost of purchasing the freehold of the property, which expires in 2046.^[33]

On 1 January 2007, Winner acquired the bacterial infection Vibrio vulnificus from eating an oyster in Barbados. He almost had a leg amputated and verged on the brink of death several times. Before recovering, Winner was infected with the "hospital superbug" MRSA.^[34] In September 2011, Winner was also admitted to hospital with food poisoning after eating steak tartare, a raw meat dish, four days in a row. The dish is not recommended for those with a weak immune system and in retrospect Winner regarded his decision to eat it as "stupid".^[35]

Death

In an interview with The Times newspaper, Winner said liver specialists had told him in summer 2012 that he had between 18 months and two years to live. He said he had researched assisted suicide offered at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, but found the bureaucracy of the process off-putting.^[36] Winner died at his home, Woodland House in Holland Park, on 21 January 2013, aged 77.^[37][38][39] Winner was buried following a traditional Jewish funeral at Willesden Jewish Cemetery.

Post-death estate controversy

Winner claimed during his lifetime to be worth £75 million, with £25m in offshore bank accounts and his home worth an additional £50m. But on his death his bank accounts were frozen, and a formal investigation of his affairs began.^[40] During this, it emerged that Winner had been supporting two former lovers, both of whom had been provided with living expenses and accommodation. The financial assistance extended also to his long-term personal assistant, the former Miss Great Britain Dinah May. After investigations, it was revealed that Winner's total estate was actually worth £16.8m, with total outstanding debts of £12m. In his will, Winner had left his wife a lump sum of £5m, but the residual estate was only worth £4.75m. His former wife, P.A. and lovers engaged probate lawyers to contest the will and their sums due from it.^[41] However, it then emerged that none of the newspapers that reported the aforementioned information about Michael's beneficiaries were correct and that they included only probate information from UK assets when Michael Winner was on record as stating that he had substantial assets in Guernsey. When Guernsey probate was later added, Michael had left a total of £50m and this was more than enough to provide for all his beneficiaries in full while leaving a substantial balance to the Police Memorial Trust.

Filmography

(from 1967 also producer)

Shorts

• The Square (1956)
• This is Belgium (1956)
• Man with a Gun (1958)
• It's Magic (1958)
• Danger, Women at Work (1959)
• Floating Fortress (1959) (associate producer)
• Girls, Girls, Girls! (1961) (directed and written by)
• Haunted England (1961)
• Behave Yourself (1962)

Feature films

Bibliography

Food writing

• Winner's Dinners: The Good, the Bad and the Unspeakable (1999)
• The Winner Guide to Dining and Whining (2002)
• The Harry's Bar Cookbook (2006, Arrigo Cipriani, foreword by Michael Winner)
• The Fat Pig Diet (2007)
• Winner's Dinners: The Restaurant & Hotel Guide (2009)
• Unbelievable!: My Life in Restaurants and Other Places (2010)

Memoirs

• Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts (2004)
• Tales I Never Told (2011)

Miscellaneous

• Michael Winner's True Crimes (1992)
• Michael Winner's Hymie Joke Book (2012)

Film criticism

• The Films of Michael Winner (1978, Bill Harding, foreword by Michael Winner)

Film biography

• Fade To Black (2003, Paul Donnelley, foreword by Michael Winner)

Additionally

• Six English Filmmakers (2014, Paul Sutton, contributor Michael WInner)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Winner.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Michael Winner

• Michael Winner at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile at BFI's Screenonline
• Profile at Turner Classic Movies