Robert Hamer

Robert James Hamer was born in 1911 along with his twin sister Barbara, the son of Owen Dyke Hamer, a bank clerk, and his wife, Annie Grace Brickell. He was educated at Cambridge University where he wrote some poetry and was published in a collection 'Contemporaries and Their Maker', along with the spy 'Donald Maclean' (qv).Hamer's cinematic career began as a clapper boy at London Films in 1934, and by 1938 he was on the editing staff. He worked as an editor on 'Alfred Hitchcock' (qv)'s _Jamaica Inn (1939)_ (qv) and worked briefly for the GPO Film Unit. He joined Ealing in 1941 as an editor, becoming an associate producer in 1943. He first made a name for himself as a director with the "The Haunted Mirror" segment in the 1945 omnibus film _Dead of Night (1945)_ (qv).At Ealing he directed one of the classic British comedies, _Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)_ (qv), in which 'Alec Guinness' (qv) played eight roles. Hamer was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 1949 Venice Film Festival for his work on the film, as he was in 1954 for directing Guinness in _The Detective (1954)_ (qv), which was based on 'G.K. Chesterton' (qv)'s short stories (Hamer also also directed Guinness in the 1955 romantic comedy _To Paris with Love (1955)_ (qv) at Rank and the thriller _The Scapegoat (1959)_ (qv), which was based on the 'Daphne Du Maurier' (qv) novel, for Du Maurier-Guimness/MGM).Hamer's last directorial effort was 1960's _School for Scoundrels (1960)_ (qv) with 'Terry Thomas' and 'Alastair Sim' (qv). He died in London on December 4, 1963, and was buried at Llandegley.::Andrew Cox, Cardiff ajcox14@hotmail.com and Jon C. Hopwood