Sydney Newman (April 1, 1917 – Oct. 30, 1997) was born as Sydney Cecil Nudelman in Toronto, Canada, to Russian immigrants who owned a shoe store. He left public school at the age of 13, later studying art and design at the Central Technical School. In 1938, his graphic art won an invitation to work at the Walt Disney Company in Hollywood, however he was unable to secure a U.S. work permit. Returning to Canada, he secured a job as a film editor of the National Film Board of Canada.
During World War II, he was promoted to producing films for the NFB, including such films as Fighting Norway and those in the long-running Canada Carries On series. He and Elizabeth McRae were wed in 1944, and their marriage lasted until her death in 1981
In 1949, the NFB sent him to New York City to study American television techniques at NBC. He moved on to the Canadian broadcasting Corporation in 1952 as its Supervising Director of Features, Documentaries and Outside Broadcasts. He pioneered broadcasts of hockey and Canadian football games. In 1954, he was made Supervisor of Drama Productions for CBC.
He produced the Arthur Hailey-directed Flight Into Danger, impressing Howard Thomas, then managing director of Britain’s ABC Weekend TV, who hired Newman to produce his own Saturday night thriller series. Before long, he was promoted to ABC’s Head of Drama, which had the Armchair Theatre under its aegis. There he insisted on producing only original material written for television.
The Avengers debuted in 1961, becoming an international success. In 1962, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stole him away from ABC. He created a new anthology series, The Wednesday Play, and in 1963, he initiated the very successful science fiction series Doctor Who, about a space and time traveler who takes on human identities to benefit humanity. Near the end of his five-year BBC contract, he green-lighted Donald Wilson’s The Forsyte Saga, which was one of the most acclaimed series of his era.
In 1970, Newman returned to Canada, where he became chairman of the National Film Bord of Canada. This was a time when French-speaking artists in Quebec province wanted to produce French nationalistic films, putting Newman in a political hot seat. His contract ended in 1975. From 1978 until 1984 he served as chief creative consultant to the Canadian Film Development Corporation. In 1981 he was awarded the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor.
He returned to Britain to work on a variety of projects during the 1980s, and in the following decade, he came back home to Canada, where his death in 1997 was due to a heart attack. His companion was Marion McDougall, with whom he had worked on Doctor Who.
Tomorrow, April 2: Irene Mayer Selznick
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SDJW staff condensation of a Wikipedia article.