Peter Charles Hammond Hill [1] was an English actor and television director.(15 November 1923 – 12 October 2011)
Peter Charles Hammond Hill was born in Victoria, Central London. His father, Charles, was an art restorer and his mother, Ada, a nurse. After attending Harrow School of Art, he started work as a scenic artist at Sheffield Repertory Theatre. Following this he turned to acting in order to "earn some cash", where he changed his name to Peter Hammond. He appeared in West End productions at the age of 17 [2].
He made his film début in Waterloo Road in 1945 and went onto carve a career playing handsome boy next door types throughout the late forties and early fifties most notably as Peter Hawtrey in The Huggetts Trilogy - Here Come the Huggetts (1948), Vote for Huggett and The Huggetts Abroad (both 1949).
Other films include Holiday Camp (1947), Helter Skelter (1949), Morning Departure (1950), The Adventurers (1951) and X the Unknown (1956).
In 1950 Peter Hammond was reunited with his Huggetts co-star Petula Clark and played her love interest in Ealing's Dance Hall. He gave Clark her first screen kiss in this film.
Prominent television roles include Hofmanstahl in The Adventures of William Tell and Lt. Edward Beamish in The Buccaneers.
In the 1960s he turned to directing television programmes such as The Avengers, Armchair Theatre and Out of the Unknown.
His work on The Avengers would give him a freehand to explore many stylistic opportunities. Producer Leonard White and series creator Sydney Newman both congratulated Hammond on giving the early videotape episodes their distinctive visual style. Steed actor, Patrick Macnee, credited Hammond as a major influence in the shaping of the character [3]. It was through his work on The Avengers and Armchair Theatre (also for Leonard White) that he would be awarded a Director's Bafta in 1965. Hammond's work on the series would be entirely on the videotape seasons (1961–1964). Although Brian Clemens, producer on the filmed episodes of the show (1965–1969), approached Hammond a few times about directing further episodes, Hammond wasn't interested, "I told them to get lost - there was nothing I could love about the Avengers being made on film" [4] [5].
His one foray into film, saw him directing James Mason in Spring and Port Wine in 1970. The film was based on the play of the same name by Bill Naughton. Set in the Lancashire town if Bolton, the film is still fondly regarded by those from the area.
He continued to direct many popular TV series of seventies, eighties and nineties including King of the Castle, a 1978 production of Wuthering Heights for the BBC, The Dark Angel for BBC2, Rumpole of the Bailey, Follyfoot, The Wednesday Play, BBC's Cold Comfort Farm in 1968, Tales of the Unexpected, 1966 BBC mini-series The Three Musketeers , The Return of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse and many more.
"Peter Neill, a colleague who worked with Hammond on various productions of the time, remembers him as "very efficient, yet creative, with a friendly manner and sense of humour". He also had a good rapport with actors, perhaps due to his own background in that area" [6].
He retired from directing in the mid-90's due to illness and in order to look after his wife, Maureen Glynne, whom he married in 1948, until her death in 2005. Peter and Maureen had three sons and two daughters.
Selected filmography
- The Huggetts Abroad (1949)
- The Reluctant Widow (1950)
- Dance Hall (1950)
- Father's Doing Fine (1952)
- Confession (1955)
- It's Never Too Late (1956)
- Model for Murder (1959)
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