Christopher Wicking
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Christopher Wicking (10 January 1943 – 13 October 2008), also known as Chris Wicking, was a British screenwriter, often in the horror and fantasy genres, notably for the British arm of American International Pictures and with Hammer Film Productions,[1] for whom he was the last 'resident script editor'.[2][3]
Early life
Wicking was born in London and educated at Coopers' Company's School.[1] While studying at St Martin's School of Art, London, he determined to break into the film industry.[2]
Movies
He began as a film booking clerk for Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors and, while working as an assistant film editor on documentaries[4] in London, he began writing profiles of directors for the influential French movie magazine Cahiers du cinéma.[2] He was a lifelong fan of westerns and wrote movie feature articles and interviews about the genre for various British magazines including the Monthly Film Bulletin and Time Out.[4] He also continued to write for French magazines including Cahiers du cinéma, Positif[4] and Midi Minuit Fantastique.[5]
His first credit as a screenwriter[1] was on the 1969 movie The Oblong Box, initially with Michael Reeves and, after Reeves' death, for director Gordon Hessler.[2] Although Wicking was only credited for "additional dialogue", Hessler later verbally credited him as writing the entire filmed script.[4] Wicking worked on the troubled Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.[6]
Television
Wicking also wrote episodes[2] for British TV series The Professionals (1979–1982),[4] Jemima Shore Investigates and the TV dramas The Way to Dusty Death (1995),[4] On Dangerous Ground (1996).[4] and Powers (2004).[7]
Later years
He taught screenwriting at various UK institutions including the Royal College of Art, the Arvon Foundation,[2] the National Film and Television School, Leeds Metropolitan University and King Alfred's College, Winchester; and, in Ireland, at University College Dublin,[2] the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Irish Film Institute's Education Department.[5] It was said that he had a fondness for "termite art" - less "precious" work that valued personal vision and idiosyncrasy.[2]
Wicking died of a heart attack[2] in Toulouse, France, on 13 October 2008.
He is buried at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium.
Works
Feature films
- The Oblong Box (1969) (additional dialogue)[1][4]
- Scream and Scream Again (1970)
- Cry of the Banshee (1970)
- Venom (1971)
- Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) (co-writer)[1]
- Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)
- Demons of the Mind (1972)
- Medusa (1973)
- To the Devil a Daughter (1976) (co-writer)[1][4]
- Lady Chatterley's Lover (co-writer) (1981)[4]
- Absolute Beginners (1986) (co-writer)[1][4]
- Dream Demon (1988)
Television Episodes
- The Professionals
The Madness of Mickey Hamilton (1979);[8] The Gun (1980);[9] Discovered in a Graveyard (1982)[10]
Book
- Vahimagi, Tise + Wicking, Christopher (1979). The American Vein: Directors and Directions in Television. Talisman Books Template:ISBN / Template:ISBN
References
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- ↑ a b c d e f g Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- ↑ All's Well That Ends: an interview with Chris Wicking Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 55, Iss. 658, (1 November 1988): 322.
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External links
- Christopher Wicking at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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