Norman Spencer (producer)

He was born in Stockwell, London,[1][2] and grew up in Essex.[2]

Spencer first met David Lean when he was a gofer at Denham Studios and Lean was an editor.[3] His first job on a Lean film was as assistant director on Lean's debut as a director, In Which We Serve (1942).

Spencer was production manager on Lean's adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations (1946),[4] and later co-scrpited and co-produced Lean's film of Harold Brighouse's play Hobson's Choice (1954).[3] Lean's first casting suggestion for the lead role was Welsh-born Roger Livesey, but Spencer convinced him to cast Charles Laughton instead, later explaining: "Laughton was a Yorkshireman and he would be playing a Lancastrian, so you'd get regional accuracy, more or less, with international casting. And I thought it needed that size of character."[5] Spencer's last producing credit for Lean was Summertime (1955), which, according to Spencer, Lean was asked to direct by producer Alexander Korda.[6] Spencer later collaborated with Lean on a re-write of the script for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) leading up to the film's production, after Lean was unhappy with the one Carl Foreman had written. Foreman was later asked to re-write the script by the film's producer Sam Spiegel.[7]

His later producing credits include the American action film Vanishing Point (1971)[8] and Richard Attenborough's film Cry Freedom (1987).

• Norman Spencer at IMDb
• Norman Spencer interview at British Entertainment History Project.