Herbert Smith

Biography

He started in production with G.B. Samuelson, joined Paramount British for the production of The Officer's Mess, then in 1932 went to work for his elder brother Sam at British Lion as assistant director on The Frightened Lady, The Calendar, Whiteface, There Goes the Bride, Sally Bishop, The Ringer, King of the Ritz. Herbert then started to direct in 1930 with On the Air, In Town Tonight, Soft Lights and Sweet Music, Calling all Stars, It's a Grand Old World, Leave it to Me, He's Got Everything, In 1938, I've Got a Horse, Around the Town, Home from Home and in 1939, All at Sea. By this time he was the production supervisor at Beaconsfield Studios. Herbert was a great one for deleting his name from the credits. As Executive in charge of Production, many films he controlled while at Denham Studios went by uncredited, such as Henry V and Hamlet both with Laurence Olivier. There are many others not all mentioned here. In 1956 Herbert was called by Sidney Box who asked if he would make a movie about the new Rock 'n' Roll. What came out of this was The Tommy Steele Story, with great music by Lionel Bart - his first movie score. Herbert followed up with Six-Five Special (1958) with all the pop stars of the period. His last film was Too Young to Love (1960) with Thomas Mitchell in 1960.