Biography

The son of Thomas William Powell and Mabel (nee Corbett). Michael Powell was always a self-confessed movie addict. He was brought up partly in Canterbury ("The Garden of England") and partly in the south of France (where his parents ran a hotel). Educated at Kings School, Canterbury and Dulwich College, he worked at the National Provincial Bank from 1922-25. In 1925 he joined Rex Ingram making Mare Nostrum (1926). He learned his craft by working at various jobs in the (then) thriving English studios of Denham and Pinewood, working his way up to director on a series of "quota quickies" (short films made to fulfill quota/tariff agreements between Britain and America in between the wars). Very rarely for the times, he had a true "world view" and, although in the mold of a classic English "gentleman", he was always a citizen of the world. It was therefore very fitting that he should team up with an émigré Hungarian Jew, Emeric Pressburger, who understood the English better than they did themselves. Between them, under the banner of "The Archers", they shared joint credits for an important series of films through the 1940s and '50s. Powell went on to make the controversial Peeping Tom (1960), a film so vilified by critics and officials alike that he didn't work in England for a very long time. He was "re-discovered" in the late 1960s and Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese tried to set up joint projects with him.

In 1980 he lectured at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. He was Senior Director in Residence at Coppola's Zoetrope Studios in 1981, and in fact married Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker. He died of cancer in his beloved England in 1990.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

He grew up in Kent and became a film enthusiast while a schoolboy at Dulwich College. In 1925 his father got him a job with Rex Ingram's MGM unit based near Nice where he gained valuable experience before becoming a journeyman director in Britain at the start of the sound era. 'The Edge of the World' filmed on location in the Shetlands in 1936 attracted Alexander Korda's attention and led to his pairing with Emeric Pressburger on 'The Spy in Black' in 1939. Together they created some of the most original films of the 40s and 50s such as'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp',A Canterbury Tale', 'The Red Shoes' and 'The Black Narcissus. The partnership lapsed after the mid 50's with Powell pursuing a solo career and Pressburger turning to writing novels. The late 70's saw a series of restorations and revivals of their films which led to a critical revaluation

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5

Alexander Korda brought Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger together for the film The Spy in Black up to then Powell had been directing low budget films in Britain and Pressburger working as a scriptwriter in Europe. They stayed together for 20 years and 20 films first a series of inventive contributions to the war effort including 49th Parallel a A Canterbury Tale then a variety of imaginitive attempts to produce post war films of international appeal and sophistication from a strong British base, which led to successes such as A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes but foundered in the 1950's, After the partnership dissolved Powell directed Peeping Tom which when rediscovered by a a younger generation caused a renewed appreciation Powell and Pressburger, In 1943 they formed The Archers as an independent production company under which all their later productions were made.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5