Basil Dearden

By a strange quirk of fate, Basil Dearden was actually killed in a car crash on the same stretch of road where, a couple of years before, he had filmed the death of the character, Harold Pelham, in a car crash in the film The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) starring Roger Moore. This was stated by Roger Moore himself in the 'Special Features' section of the DVD 'The Man Who Haunted Himself'.

In the '60s Dearden embarked on a new phase of his career by directing large-scale action pictures, the best of which was Khartoum (1966), which was a critical and financial success.

From the 1960s to the time of his death, he lived at Beel House in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, England. Beel House was subsequently bought by Robert Kilroy-Silk.

A former stage director, Basil Dearden entered films as an assistant to director Basil Dean (he changed his name from Dear to avoid being confused with Dean). Dearden worked his way up the ladder and directed (with Will Hay) his first film in 1941; two years later he directed his first film on his own. He eventually became associated with writer/producer Michael Relph, and together the two made films on themes not often tackled in British films, such as homosexuality and race relations.

In the 1940s, he lived with his wife Melissa Stribling at 10 Park Village West near Regent's Park in London. The Crown Estate owned cul-de-sac also boasted another well-known British director, Seafield Head and his wife, the actress Helen Shingler.