Robert S. Baker (1916-2009) b. London, England, UK.

Robert S. Baker was born in London. During WWII he served with the Royal Artillery in North Africa, and was later transferred to the Army Film and Photographic Unit, becoming a combat cameraman in Europe. During this period he met long-time partner Monty Berman in Egypt.

After the war, the pair set up Tempean Films, their first production being A Date with a Dream (1948), a forgettable comedy about a wartime concert party’s reunion starring Terry-Thomas and Norman Wisdom. The company was soon turning out second features at a brisk rate, most of them directed by Baker, John Gilling or Henry Cass. The majority were modest crime drama’s or murder mystery’s featuring a cast that were deserving of better material, but some like The Frightened Man (1951), The Voice of Merrill (1952) and Escape by Night (1953). Tempean Films final production saw Baker and Berman move into slightly more mainstream territory with Sea of Sand (1958), a familiar North African war adventure, directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough, John Gregson and Michael Craig.

Baker and Berman continued with a series of period drama’s based on infamous events in history; all produced and directed by the duo. First was a fictional account of Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper (1959), then The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), a dramatised recreation of the 1911 East London siege of Russian gangsters. The Hellfire Club (1960) was a limp period swashbuckler lacking in vibrancy, and finally a fictional swashbuckler, The Secret of Monte Cristo (1961), a lacklustre effort to cash-in on the success of the many films inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ novel.

In the 60s, Baker, like many other film directors, transferred to television and began directing episodes of The Saint, based on the Leslie Charteris character and starring Roger Moore. Baker now focused solely on producing, and worked on the Scotland Yard detective drama series Gideon’s Way with John Gregson based on the John Creasey stories, episodes of The Saint, and another John Creasey sleuth, The Baron. Baker and Roger Moore then formed Bamore, a company that produced The Saint feature spin-off, The Fiction Makers (1968), and the swingin’ London thriller Crossplot (1969). Baker’s last major work was the ITC action adventures series The Persuaders, starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore as wealthy playboys who team up together to fight crime. Baker would spend his remaining active years involved in The Saint and The Persuaders spin-off ventures.