On Location in 1970s London: Gavrik Losey

Abstract

Gavrik Losey was born in New York in 1938. His father was Joseph Losey. He grew up in Hollywood during the late 1940s, where he witnessed first-hand the effects of the McCarthy witch hunts which forced his father to flee the United States in 1951 to avoid testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Gavrik eventually followed his father to England in 1956. He enrolled at University College London, and entered the British film industry as a full-time professional in 1959. Before moving into film production, Gavrik gained practical experience of the creative side of the industry while training as a film editor, cameraman and assistant director. He was a camera assistant on Tom Jones (1963) and Girl with Green Eyes (1964), and worked as a news cameraman for the first series of Granada Television’s World in Action. He was invited to become an assistant director on Modesty Blaise (1966), which was directed by his father, and Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn (1966). Gavrik then moved into production management. He was to work on more than twenty films in this capacity, including Robbery (1967), 30 is a Dangerous Age and Cynthia (1968) and If . . . (1968). During this period he was also approached by the Beatles to work on the television film Magical Mystery Tour (1967). In 1968 he became an in-house production supervisor for Woodfall Films, where his projects included Hamlet (1969), Laughter in the Dark (1969) and Ned Kelly (1970), all directed by Tony Richardson. Gavrik remained busy during the early 1970s. He worked on two films for director Michael Tuchner – Villain (1971) as assistant producer and Fear is the Key (1972) as associate producer. He joined David Puttnam and Sandy Lieberson at Goodtimes Films as an associate producer/producer working on Melody (1971), The Pied Piper (1971), That’ll Be the Day (1973), Stardust (1974) and Flame (1975). Gavrik produced some of his best work as a freelancer during the 1970s. Little Malcolm (1974), based on David Halliwell’s play Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs, was the winner of a Silver