Peter Proud
Peter Proud (born Ralph Priestman Proud, 6 May 1913, Glasgow – 1989, London) was a British film art director.[1] He made a major contribution to wartime camouflage and deception operations in the Western Desert, especially in the siege of Tobruk.
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Early career
In 1928, Proud left school at age 15 and started work at the Elstree film studios on Alfred Hitchcock films including Murder! (1930) and Rich and Strange.[2] In 1932 he joined Gaumont British as assistant designer to Alfred Junge. The British Film Institute's Raymond Durgnat described him as an "ace production designer".[3]
In 1935 he moved to Gainsborough Pictures,[4] and in 1936 he became an art director at Warner Bros., where he worked on Michael Powell's film Something Always Happens.[2][1]
Wartime camouflage
Proud worked as a camouflage officer under Geoffrey Barkas in the Western Desert in the Second World War, and was responsible for effective camouflage and deception in the Siege of Tobruk.[5][6] With Steven Sykes, he created the dummy port at Ras al Hilal to divert enemy attention from the Eighth Army's vital supply ports.[7] He was a creative camoufleur, inventing the "Net Gun Pit", a quickly-erected structure of netting and canvas, that from the air closely resembled an anti-aircraft gun in a sandbagged pit.[8][2]
Post-war
After the war, Proud ran his own production company. He worked on the TV series The Buccaneers and The Adventures of Robin Hood at Nettlefold Studios.[9][2][10]
Selected filmography
Proud worked, mainly as art director, on films including:[1]
- Murder! (1930)
- Orders is Orders (1933)
- My Old Dutch (1934)
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934)
- Man of the Moment (1935)
- The Black Mask (1935)
- It's in the Bag (1936)
- The League of Gentlemen (1960)
- The Guilty Party (1962)
- It's All Over Town (1963)
- Saturday Night Out (1964)
- Fanatic (1965)
- Theatre of Death (1966)
- The Naked Runner (1967)
References
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Barkas, 1952. pp121-128.
- ↑ Stroud, 2012. pp91-98, 100-108.
- ↑ Stroud, 2012. pp137-143.
- ↑ Stroud, 2012. pp152-154.
- ↑ Stroud, 2012. p234.
- ↑ Robin Hood (TV). Retrieved 13 November 2012.
Bibliography
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