Lew Grade - Biography

Lew Grade, Baron Grade (25 December 190613 December 1998), born Lev Winogradsky, was an influential Russian-born English impresario and media mogul.

Biography

Early years

He was born in Tokmak, Ukraine, Russian Empire to Olga and Isaac Winogradsky. In 1912 the Jewish family fled to a new life in the East End of London. Isaac managed a cinema, while his three sons (the others were Bernard Delfont and Leslie Grade) attended the Rochelle Street School in Bethnal Green, near Shoreditch, where Yiddish was spoken by 90% of the pupils. For two years they lived in rented rooms at the north end of Brick Lane, then moved to the nearby Boundary Estate. At 15 Louis became an agent for a clothing firm, and shortly afterwards started his own business. But after he won a Charleston competition at the Royal Albert Hall in 1926, he became a professional dancer under the name Louis Grad; his name's final form came from a Paris reporter's error which Grade liked and kept. Around 1934 he became a booking agent and soon went into partnership with the established agent Joe Collins (father of Jackie and Joan Collins). Among Grade's clients were harmonica player Larry Adler and the jazz group The Quintet of the Hot Club of France.

After the outbreak of the war in Europe in 1939, Grade became involved in arranging troops entertainment in Harrogate, which were popular, and subsequently after he joined the Army. He was invalided out of the forces after two years when an old problem with water on the knees, which had earlier ended his dancing career, reoccurred.

In 1945, Grade went into partnership with his brother Leslie (the arrangement with Joe Collins had by now been terminated) and spent some of his time in the United States where the brothers developed their interests. His connections led to Bob Hope and Judy Garland, among others, appearing in Britain for the first time.

Television interests

In August 1954 Grade was contacted by Mike Nidorf, the manager of singer Jo Stafford, who notified him of an advertisement in The Times inviting franchise bids for the new ITV network. Assembling a consortium, including impresarios Val Parnell and Prince Littler, the Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP), soon changing its name to Independent Television Company was formed. Their bid to the Independent Television Authority (ITA) was rejected owing to the conflict of interest from their involvement in artist management and prominent status. The Associated Broadcasting Development Company gained ITA approval for both the London (weekend) and Midlands (weekday) contracts, but was undercapitalised, and Grade's consortium joined with them to form what became Associated TeleVision.

Grade was deputy managing director of ATV under Val Parnell until 1962, but it was Grade who was responsible for committing the finance for what would become the companies' first success with an international audience: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-1960), commissioned by an American producer, Hannah Weinstein, who was based in Britain.

The ITC production company, a wholly owned ATV subsidiary from 1957, became known for many internationally successful TV series. Howard Thomas, managing director of ABC, another ITV contractor, was soon complaining that Grade made television programmes for Birmingham, Alabama rather than Birmingham, England. These programmes included The Saint (starring Roger Moore several years before his period as James Bond), and two series which involved Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man (also known as Secret Agent in the US) and The Prisoner.

In 1962 the production house AP Films became an ITC subsidiary. AP Films, co-founded by Gerry Anderson, which produced a string of popular children's marionette adventure series including Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, three feature films, and the live-action sci-fi series UFO and Space: 1999. Although supportive of the produced shows, especially concerning Thunderbirds which he insisted on having the episodes be produced as an hour-long one on account of being so pleased by the premiere "Trapped in the Sky", the consistent drive for success at home and abroad led to various artistic differences for Grade with McGoohan and Anderson, leading to a split with both.

The companies were reorganised again in 1966, under the Associated Communications Corporation umbrella. ATV lost its London franchise to what became London Weekend Television in 1967, but at the same time the Midlands franchise was extended to the whole week. The new arrangement came into force from July 1968. Foreign sales remained buoyant, they were worth $30 million in 1970 and Grade's company received the Queen's Awards for Export in 1967 and 1969. In the early 1970s though, a number of ITC series were flops including UFO (1970–71); The Persuaders! (1971–72), (its second series to star Roger Moore); and Grade's ultimate coup, The Julie Andrews Hour (1972–1973), which lasted only one season on the ABC Television Network, and yet received excellent reviews and was awarded seven Emmy Awards including Best Variety Series.

Northern Songs purchase

Grade's path crossed with the Beatles in 1969. Grade and ATV Music Publishing bought a majority share in Northern Songs, the company established by Brian Epstein which owned nearly all of the Beatles' catalogue. After a fierce battle, Grade and ATV won control of the company while controlling any other songs written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon between 1964 and 1971. (George Harrison and Ringo Starr broke from Northern Songs prior to Grade's acquisition.) ATV would retain control of Northern Songs until 1985, when the company sold the songs to Michael Jackson.

The Muppets

In the mid-1970s, Grade approached American puppeteer Jim Henson, who was in need of assistance for a new television program. Henson wanted to create a new TV variety show starring his Muppet characters in the United States, but had been dismissed by the American networks for merely being part of children's shows like Sesame Street. CBS almost agreed to holding the show, but only if it aired during a syndicated block of its programming and if it were produced by someone else. After watching one of Henson's pilots and recalling a special made in one of his studios, Grade decided to let Henson create his show in England and distribute it through ATV (in the United Kingdom to the ITV network) and ITC (for the United States and worldwide distribution). Grade's action was instrumental in bringing The Muppet Show to the screen in 1976 and led to its wide success on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world. Henson chose to immortalize the great producer through the character Lew Lord (played by Orson Welles) in The Muppet Movie. There was also speculation for a time that Muppet Dr. Bunsen Honeydew was also a caricature of Grade, though this was denied (with a hint of regret) by Henson in a 1982 interview.

Jesus of Nazareth

His other successes as a producer included the award-winning Jesus of Nazareth (1977), starring Robert Powell. Grade had unique success in selling to the American market. The mini-series secured a record breaking $12m. He also promoted extravagant 'quality' productions on ATV to prove its equal to BBC TV, for instance giving over a whole evening schedule to a live broadcast of Tosca from La Scala starring Maria Callas.

Major films

In 1975, Grade and ITC released the film The Return of the Pink Panther into theaters with assistance of United Artists and with director Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers in his role of Inspector Clouseau. Originally conceived as a TV series, Grade saw the potential of reviving the Pink Panther film franchise by turning it into a motion picture. Although there was tremendous controversy with Grade turning the project into a movie, a compromise was eventually made where United Artists would distribute the film in the United States while ITC would distribute for the rest of the world. When the Pink Panther film was a huge hit, it not only revived the franchise (which UA would resume on its own), but also made Grade move into films, hoping to have the same success as he had in television. While having notable films and modest successes in this period, the biggest success would come through 1979's The Muppet Movie, partially tied to his successful deal with Jim Henson and the popularity of The Muppet Show. Keeping his ideas about class alongside showmanship, Grade would also become the producer of Ingmar Bergman films Autumn Sonata and From the Life of the Marionettes. Other notable films of the period include other co-releases such as The Boys From Brazil with 20th Century Fox starring Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck and Stanley Donen's Movie Movie with Warner Brothers.

In 1980, Grade backed an expensive 'all-star' film version of Clive Cussler's best-seller Raise the Titanic; Grade himself remarked that "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic". Released the same year as The Empire Strikes Back, the middle of the original Star Wars trilogy, RTT flopped as audience tastes had changed. This and other expensive duds—including Saturn 3 (also 1980) and The Legend of the Lone Ranger (released the following year)--marked the end of Grade's involvement with major motion picture production. Amazingly, several of the most critically acclaimed films produced by Grade would come out after the disaster of Raise the Titanic: the Academy Award-winning films On Golden Pond and Sophie's Choice, as well as cult classic The Dark Crystal, which was the final project Jim Henson created in association with Grade and ITC.

After ITC and beyond

In 1980, three events would end up diminishing Grade's star in the production and entertainment world: Jim Henson's decision to end The Muppet Show after a successful five year run, the bombing of Raise the Titanic, and a decision during the ITV determination for the Midlands region effective 1 January 1982 that ATV could keep their license under the condition that they remove their connection with Grade and ITC Entertainment (eventually leading to their rebrand as Central Television). He eventually stepped down from the company that he had led since the 1950s as it was put through a series of partnerships and mergers. Grade eventually was brought in by Norman Lear to head the film unit of Embassy Pictures but was never as influential or successful as he was during his long history in British television and film (even though he sat through the distribution of important and influential films such as Blade Runner and This Is Spinal Tap). He was also a producer of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Starlight Express.

By the mid-1990s, Grade once again returned to ITC, to head the company that he had created for one last time until his death.

Honours

He was made a life peer as Baron Grade, of Elstree in the County of Hertfordshire in 1976, having been knighted in 1969. He chose Elstree as his territorial designation not after the famous Elstree Studios, known at one time as "Britain's Hollywood", but because ATV's studios were also located there.

Death

Grade died of heart failure, 12 days short of his 92nd birthday, on 13 December 1998.

Centenary

Lew Grade would have been 100 years old on Christmas Day 2006. To celebrate his life, BBC Radio 2 produced two one-hour shows which were transmitted at 10pm on 24 and 25 December. The shows were hosted by Sir Roger Moore and featured interviews with Lady Grade, Lew's niece Anita Land and nephew Michael Grade CBE (now Lord Grade of Yarmouth) (both the children of Leslie Grade), and nephew Ian Freeman, the son of his sister, Rita, plus a host of stars.

Cultural References

During a montage in "The Cycling Tour" episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus which depicted a series of Soviet cities like "Leningrad" and "Stalingrad," the name "Lew Grade" crops up.

Quotes

• Commenting on his expensive flop, Raise the Titanic: "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic."

• "Marriage was the best business deal I ever made. After that, Jesus of Nazareth and The Muppets."

• From Sir Roger Moore - "Anyone who is 88 and can still jump up on the table and do The Charleston...that speaks volumes!"

• "All my shows are great. Some of them are bad, but they are all great."

• "Only twelve disciples? Didn't I tell you I want this thing to be big, big, big!" (To Franco Zefirelli, on the set of 'Jesus of Nazareth')

• "I have a very good sense of what audiences want and expect from movies and television. That's because I'm one of them."

• At age 11, when asked the answer to 'What is two plus two': "Are you buying or selling ?"

External links

• An article on how Raise the Titanic! ruined Lew Grade's film ambitions