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Norman Spencer

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Norman Spencer
Norman Spencer
Birth: 13 August 1914
Stockwell, London, England, UK
Death: 16 August 2024
London, England, UK
Age: 110 years, 3 days
Country: United KingdomUK
Validated

Norman Leslie Spencer (13 August 1914 – 16 August 2024) was a British supercentenarian, film producer, production manager, and screenwriter, especially notable for his collaborations with director David Lean during the 1940s and 1950s.

Spencer had been the oldest known living man in London from the death of Donald Blout, and was also the second-oldest known living man in the United Kingdom at the time of his death, after John Tinniswood. His age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Spencer was born on 13 August 1914 in Stockwell, London, and grew up in Essex.

Career[]

Spencer began in the film industry in the mid-1930s, initially doing extra work. He first met David Lean when he was a gofer at Denham Studios and Lean was an editor. His first job on a Lean film was as assistant director on Lean's debut as a director, In Which We Serve (1942).

Spencer became Lean's production manager after joining Cineguild Productions in 1944, and went on to work on Lean's acclaimed adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations (1946), and later co-scrpited and co-produced Lean's film of Harold Brighouse's play, Hobson's Choice (1954).

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."

Spencer's last producing credit for Lean was Summertime (1955), which, according to Spencer, Lean was asked to direct by producer Alexander Korda.

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.

Spencer would work again for Lean on the Moroccan shoot for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), although his work was uncredited.

Spencer's later producing credits included the American action film Vanishing Point (1971) and Richard Attenborough's film Cry Freedom (1987).

Personal Life[]

Spencer married Barbara Sheppard in 1943. The couple had two children.

As of 2009, Spencer was living in Denham, Buckinghamshire.

In July 2013, Spencer attended a special screening of Great Expectations at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk.

Spencer became a centenarian in August 2014

In August 2024, he turned 110 and became a supercentenarian.

He died in London on 16 August 2024, at the age of 110 years, 3 days.

Gallery[]

References[]

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