If you want to know about Hammer you need to know about Terence Fisher!
He is probably as important in the fortunes of Hammer Film Productions as anyone including William "Hammer" Hinds himself.
Terence Fisher was born on the 23rd of February 1904 in Maida Vale, County of London, England. He left school aged 16 and served in the Merchant Navy for five years. He first broke into the film industry as a ‘clapper boy’ at “Lime Grove Studios” in Shepherd's Bush, London in 1933.
The next year he had started work as an assistant editor for the company “Gainsborough Pictures” receiving his first editor credit on the film “Tudor Rose” (1936) and he worked as a film editor until 1947 editing a further 16 movies.
Fisher then moved into directing making the movie “A Song for Tomorrow”(1948), a second feature (B movie) for the film company Highbury Productions.
The cast of “A Song for Tomorrow” features a 26-year-old actor named Christopher Lee in his fourth-ever movie role having just started film acting in 1947.
Terence Fisher became a solid journeyman film director making A and B pictures for various production companies and working with established acting talent such as Derek Bond, Noël Coward, Dirk Bogarde & Jean Simmons.
Fisher's first feature for Hammer Films was “Man Bait” (1951), one of a number of low-budget thrillers that the studio was then making at the time, usually with an imported American star to appeal to the US market; The Last Page starred American George Brent and the home grown talent of Diana Dors.
The bosses at Hammer liked Fisher's work and kept him on to direct the thrillers
“Wings of Danger” (1952) and “Stolen Face” (1952).
He went to work for “Meridian Films” for one picture but he was called back to Hammer to direct the thriller “Man in Hiding” (1953)
Fisher took the helm for Hammer's first foray into Genre film making with the sci-fi films
“Four Sided Triangle” (1953) & “Spaceways” (1953).
He then returned to making Crime films, Thrillers and comedies for Hammer and other production companies for the next four years….
Between the years 1957 and 1974, Fisher went on to direct 17 more movies for Hammer.
Terence Fisher retired in 1974 and enjoyed a well-earned retirement but unfortunately passed away on the 18th of June 1980 (aged 76) at home in Twickenham, London, England.
