Ирландиялық кино өндіруші Уильям МакКуитти өмірі мен шығармашылығы

Irish film producer

William MacQuitty (15 May 1905 – 4 February 2004) was an Irish film producer and also a writer and photographer. He is most noted for his production of the 1958 Rank Organisation / Pinewood Studios film, A Night to Remember, which recreates the story of the sinking of RMS Titanic, based on the book of the same name by Walter Lord. MacQuitty had seen Titanic being launched, when he was a child.

MacQuitty was born as William Baird McQuitty at 5 St John's Avenue in Rosetta, Belfast, the son of James McQuitty, the managing director of the Belfast Telegraph, and Henrietta Little. He was educated at Rockport School and at Campbell College. MacQuitty had seen Titanic being launched on 31 May 1911 and still remembered the occasion vividly. He also watched the maiden voyage departure the following year. MacQuitty attained employment with the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (known today as the Standard Chartered), at the age of 18, where he remained until 1939. In 1926, he was posted to the Far East, joining the Auxiliary Punjab Light Horse at Amritsar, who were a handful of volunteer soldiers whose job was to defend the memsahibs and the children in a city that was widely regarded as one of the most seditious in India. However the proposal was rejected and by a massive feat of archaeological engineering the temples were raised above water level. MacQuitty's plan has always been regarded as supremely elegant and probably the best in terms of conservation of the temples.

MacQuitty's first book, Abu Simbel, was based on his experiences. Published in 1965, The Times called it "lavishly illustrated with his own photographs". He went on to produce almost a book a year on a variety of subjects, reflecting his interests in the Orient, all illustrated with his award winning photographs from a library of a quarter of a million taken by him over 60 years in 75 different countries. Buddha, published in 1969 included a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and in 1971 the Shah of Iran sponsored a large volume to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of his country. His most successful book, published in 1972, was Tutankhamun: The Last Journey, which sold half a million copies. His definitive photograph of Tutankhamun's funerary mask was seen all over the world, as it was used as the poster for the 1972 British Museum exhibition of the tomb's treasures.

In 2002 the Royal Photographic Society described him as "a phenomenon in film", and he was awarded the Society's Lumiè re Award for distinction in film and photography. Throughout his life, MacQuitty was endlessly delighted to learn from the people he met all around the world, particularly the Orient and the Middle East and was enthralled by the exotic contrast with his homeland. He had no time for racial hatred. He enjoyed multiple career paths and amassed a huge tally in what he referred to as "The Banquet of Life". He published his autobiography, A Life to Remember, at age 86 in 1991. He died in London, in 2004 aged 98.