Denis Forman
Sir John Denis FormanOBE(13 October 1917 – 24 February 2013)[1]was a Scottish executive in the British television industry long associated with the ITV contractorGranada,and with various charitable and governmental bodies in the arts.[2]
Career[edit]
Forman was born in 1917 in Cragielands, nearMoffat,inDumfries,to the Rev Adam Forman, anEpiscopalianvicar and country gentleman who later became aPresbyterianminister.[2]The family lived in a house built in thePalladianstyle and were devout.[2]Forman recounted his childhood in his memoirSon of Adam(1990, filmed asMy Life So Farin 1999). He was educated atLoretto School,MusselburghandPembroke College, Cambridge.[2]
Forman had a distinguished military career during the Second World War and was wounded atMonte Cassino,[3]losing a leg.[2]After the war he joined theBritish Film Instituteand was its director from 1948 to 1955. Later he was chair of its board of governors, from 1971 to 1973.
After his main period of work at the BFI, Forman joined the newGranada Televisionin 1955, an ITV contractor which went on air in the following year, being appointed by Cecil Bernstein (brother ofSidney) who was a BFI governor at the time.[4]He was chairman from 1974 to 1987, and deputy chairman of theGranada Groupfrom 1984 to 1990.[3]He was also deputy chairman of theRoyal Opera HouseCovent Garden, from 1983 to 1991.[3]Throughout his career, Forman encouraged young talent and amongst others, mentored the founder of Channel 4 Sir Jeremy Isaacs and musician and businessman David Wood.
At Granada Forman presided over the creation of the acclaimed seriesThe Jewel in the Crownand such ground-breaking programmes asWorld in Action,Disappearing World,University ChallengeandFamily at War.[5]
Personal life[edit]
Forman married Helen de Mouilpied in 1948 and they had two sons, Charlie and Adam. She died in 1987. He married again in 1990, to Moni, the widow of the journalistJames Cameron.[2]He died of a heart attack in a nursing home inLondon,aged 95.[6]
Publications[edit]
- Mozart’s Piano Concertos,1971
- Son of Adam(autobiography, vol.1), 1990
- To Reason Why(autobiography, vol.2), 1991
- The Good Opera Guide,(ed.) 1994
- Persona Granada: Some Memories of Sidney Bernstein and the Early Days of Independent Television(memoir), 1997
- The Good Wagner Guide,2000
References[edit]
- ^"Sir Denis Forman".The Telegraph.25 February 2013.Retrieved25 February2013.
- ^abcdefPhilip Purser (25 February 2013)."Sir Denis Forman obituary".The Guardian.Retrieved25 February2013.
- ^abc"Who's Who".A & C Black. 1 June 2010.Retrieved16 July2011.
- ^Anthony Hayward"Sir Denis Forman: Granada executive hailed as a pioneer of commercial television",The Independent,27 February 2013
- ^"Obituary for Sir Denis Forman".The Scotsman.27 February 2013.
- ^Granada's Sir Denis Forman dies aged 95BBC News,25 February 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
External links[edit]
- Denis FormanatIMDb
- WW2 Experience Website detailing Forman's Military Career
- History of The British Film Institute Project
- Appearance on Desert Island Discs (3 March 1991)
See also[edit]
- 1917 births
- 2013 deaths
- Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers
- British Army personnel of World War II
- British writers about music
- British television directors
- BAFTA fellows
- Knights Bachelor
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh
- People from Dumfries and Galloway
- Governors of the British Film Institute
- Military personnel from Dumfries and Galloway