Denis Forman
Sir John Denis Forman OBE (13 October 1917 – 24 February 2013)[1] was a Scottish executive in the British television industry long associated with the ITV contractor Granada, and with various charitable and governmental bodies in the arts.[2]
Career
[edit]Forman was born in 1917 in Cragielands, near Moffat, in Dumfries, to the Rev Adam Forman, an Episcopalian vicar and country gentleman who later became a Presbyterian minister.[2] The family lived in a house built in the Palladian style and were devout.[2] Forman recounted his childhood in his memoir Son of Adam (1990, filmed as My Life So Far in 1999). He was educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh and Pembroke College, Cambridge.[2]
Forman had a distinguished military career during the Second World War and was wounded at Monte Cassino,[3] losing a leg.[2] After the war he joined the British Film Institute and 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 new Granada Television in 1955, an ITV contractor which went on air in the following year, being appointed by Cecil Bernstein (brother of Sidney) who was a BFI governor at the time.[4] He was chairman from 1974 to 1987, and deputy chairman of the Granada Group from 1984 to 1990.[3] He was also deputy chairman of the Royal Opera House Covent 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 series The Jewel in the Crown and such ground-breaking programmes as World in Action, Disappearing World, University Challenge and Family 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 journalist James Cameron.[2] He died of a heart attack in a nursing home in London, 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. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Philip Purser (25 February 2013). "Sir Denis Forman obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
- ^ a b c "Who's Who". A & C Black. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
- ^ 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 95 BBC News, 25 February 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
External links
[edit]- Denis Forman at IMDb
- 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