Alexander Walker

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Alexander Walker, born in Portadown, Northern Ireland, on March 23, 1930 – July 2003, was a film critic.

He studied at Queen's University, Belfast, the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and the University of Michigan, before retiring as a film critic of the London Evening Standard in 1960, a position he retained until his death in 2003.

He was a well-known film figure, and he also wrote a series of books, including one on Stanley Kubrick, the effect of the talkies' rise on Hollywood (The Shattered Silents) and a biography of Elizabeth Taylor.

His most extensive work is a history of British cinema, which has appeared in three books: Hollywood England, National Heroes, and Icons in the Fire.

Personal life and death

Walker died in July 2003 at the age of 73. In Who's Who's Who's Who's Who? He referred to his recreations as "ski-ing and persecuting smokers." He lived in 1 Marlborough, a block of flats located 38-40 of Maida Vale in the town of the same name.

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Life and career

Walker was born in Portadown, County Armagh in Northern Ireland, the only son of Alfred, a commercial traveller, and Ethel Walker. He was educated at Portadown Grammar School, Queen's University, Belfast, the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium and the University of Michigan, where he lectured in political philosophy for two years from 1952.

He worked for the Birmingham Post from 1953, where he was noticed by Godfrey Winn, who became a significant influence upon him as well as, later, Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere. The film critic of the London Evening Standard from 1960, he remained in the role until his death in 2003. His most extended work was a book trilogy on the history of the British film industry: Hollywood England, National Heroes and Icons in the Fire. In addition, he was the author of an Elizabeth Taylor biography, a history of the impact made on Hollywood by the rise of the talkies (The Shattered Silents) and a study of the work of Stanley Kubrick.

Walker had a close relationship with Kubrick, but was a fierce critic of the British director Ken Russell, referring to the director's visceral The Devils (1971) as being "a garish glossary of sado-masochism … a taste for visual sensation that makes scene after scene look like the masturbatory fantasies of a Roman Catholic boyhood." Having previously been a defender of Russell's early work for the BBC he was increasingly critical of Russell films of the 1970s, reviewing The Music Lovers (1970) he wrote: "This man must be stopped: bring me an elephant gun." In a television showdown between the two men in response to Walker's assessment of The Devils as "monstrously indecent", Russell reached over and hit him around the head with a rolled up newspaper copy of his own review. In later life, when asked about the incident and if he regretted it, Russell responded that he did regret it, "I wish it had been an iron bar."

Walker assembled a collection of more than 200 drawings and prints by modern artists, which were bequeathed to the British Museum after his death in 2003. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Walker was a frequent broadcaster on radio and television on the arts. He authored the television series Moviemen and the BBC Radio series Film Star. He was the author and co-producer of television programmes on the history of Hollywood, Greta Garbo, and Charlie Chaplin. Walker was a member of the British Screen Advisory Council (formerly the Wilson Interim Action Committee on the Film Industry) from 1977 to 1992 and of the Board of Governors at the BFI from 1989 to 1995.

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