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2024-09-20T12:15:16Z

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{{Short description|British film commissioner (1925–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_prefix = [[Sir]]
| name = Sydney Samuelson
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Sydney H. Wylie Samuelson
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|12|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Paddington]], London, England<ref>''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007''</ref>
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|12|14|1925|12|7|df=y}}
| death_place =
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| nationality = British
| other_names =
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| employer =
| occupation = Producer
| title =
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| children = [[Peter Samuelson]]
| parents = [[G. B. Samuelson]]
| relatives =
}}

'''Sir Sydney H. Wylie Samuelson''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (7 December 1925 – 14 December 2022) was a British film director and cinematographer.<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page= 3520 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1|title-link=Burke's Peerage }}</ref> He was appointed in 1991 by the government of the UK as the first British Film Commissioner.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090120113358/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/89236?view=credit BFI]</ref>

==Early life==
Sydney Wylie Samuelson was born in [[Paddington]], London, to [[G. B. Samuelson|George Berthold Samuelson]], a [[History of film|cinema]] pioneer of the [[silent film]] era, and Marjorie Emma Elizabeth Vint. He was educated at the Irene Avenue Council School in [[Lancing, West Sussex]].<ref name="burke"/>

==Career==
Samuelson started his career as a rewind boy at the Luxor cinema in [[Lancing, West Sussex]]. After working in several cinemas in the Midlands as a relief operator for the ABC circuit, he got a job as a trainee film editor with Gaumont British, which was then at [[Lime Grove Studios|Lime Grove]] in London.

After serving in the [[Royal Air Force]] from 1943 to 1947,<ref name = "BCT">{{cite web|title=Sir Sydney Samuelson CBE – British Cinematographer|url=https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/all-time-greats-sir-sydney-samuelson-cbe/|website=British Cinematographer|accessdate=22 April 2018|date=3 May 2015}}</ref> he got a job as a trainee cameraman with the [[Colonial Film Unit]]. He then went on to work for Rayant Pictures, for whom he filmed the [[Coronation of Elizabeth II]] in 1953.<ref name = "BCT"/> In 1954, he set up Samuelson Film Service, hiring out film equipment. He went on to become the first British Film Commissioner and remained in the post for six years. He was chosen as chairman of the management board of [[BAFTA]] in 1976 and was a permanent trustee.

In 1985, he received the Michael Balcon Award, and in 1993, he received a [[BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award|Fellowship of BAFTA]], the Academy's highest honour. Samuelson was appointed a [[Commander of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[1978 Birthday Honours]] for service to BAFTA, and [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1995 Birthday Honours]] for services to the film industry.<ref>UK list:{{London Gazette |issue=47549 |date=2 June 1978 |pages=6237 |supp=y}}</ref><ref name=GB>The United Kingdom:{{London Gazette |issue=54066 |date=16 June 1995 |pages=2 |supp=1}}</ref>

Samuelson wrote the foreword featured in the book '' In Conversation with Cinematographers'' by David A. Ellis, published by the American publisher Rowman & Littlefield. He was the first President of the [[UK Jewish Film Festival]]. He remained in the role until 2005, and as of 2010 was the UKJFF Honorary Lifetime Patron.

==Death==
Samuelson died at his home on 14 December 2022, aged 97.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tabbara |first1=Mona |title=UK film industry pioneer Sydney Samuelson dies aged 97 |url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/uk-film-industry-pioneer-sydney-samuelson-dies-aged-97/5177515.article |access-date=15 December 2022 |publisher=Screen Daily |date=15 December 2022}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|nm0760567}}

{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award |state=collapsed}}
{{BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Sydney}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:BAFTA fellows]]
[[Category:BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award]]
[[Category:Samuelson family|Sydney]]
[[Category:British Jews]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from Paddington]]
[[Category:Film directors from London]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force airmen]]
[[Category:Military personnel from the City of Westminster]]

{{UK-film-bio-stub}}

Sydney Samuelson - Revision history

imported>Tom.Reding: WP:STUBSPACING followup