Basil Dearden

Biography: Dearden entered the film industry as an assistant to producer/director Basil Dean. In the early '40s he and comic Will Hays co-directed Hays' features The Black Sheep of Whitehall, The Goose Steps Out, and My Learned Friend. Dearden's first solo effort was The Bells Go Down in 1943; the following year he directed the "Hearse Driver" episode of the classic horror anthology Dead Of Night. Dearden co-directed a series of films in the early '50s with Michael Relph, most notably their final effort, The Ship That Died of Shame. Relph became producer/writer to Dearden's director for a range of memorable films in the late '50s and early '60s: groundbreaking social dramas that explored racism (Sapphire) and homophobia (Victim); sprightly comedies (The Smallest Show on Earth, Man in the Moon); literate and exciting crime tales (The League of Gentlemen, The Secret Partner). On his own, Dearden also scored with the popular actioner Khartoum.