Norman Walker

Biography

Norman was born in Bolton and served in World War 1 reaching the rank of captain. After the war he joined John Maxwell at Elstree Studios and made his debut as an assistant director in 1920 and directed a number of films for British International Pictures. By the early 1930's he had a reputation as a director of quality specialising in location settings when cameras were tied to the studios. Fires of Fate was largely filmed in Egypt while Mr Bill the Conqueror (1932) won honours for its outstanding location work in the Sussex countryside. It was that experience of outdoor photography that made him the natural choice for British National's first production Turn of the Tide. After filming that Norman continued to work with J Arthur Rank and in 1937 formed GHW Productions. War time films included The Man at the Gate (1940), Hard Steel (1941) The Great Mr Handel (1942) and They Knew Mr Knight (1945). He continued working for Rank until his death in 1976. His film Turn of the Tide was the screen debut of character actors Wilfred Lawson and Niall MacGinnis and footage from his film Turn of the Tide was used tn the film The Man at the Gate