Brian Degas
| Brian Degas | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 October 1935 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, producer |
Brian R Degas (born 2 October 1935), is a British film and television writer and producer, merchandiser and creative packager of ancillary rights.
Degas was born of English parents in and while raised in the English language was also conversant with Spanish and Italian languages and cultures. His apprenticeship as a Writer/Director in amateur dramatics laid down the foundations for his career in the entertainment business.
At the age of 21 in pursuit of a dream he emigrated to the and in was invited to join CBS-TV Network as a Production Trainee in Public Affairs Programming. A variety of posts followed on such distinguished programmes as Adventure and Odyssey hosted by Charles Collingwood led to his cross over into Drama when he was invited to join John Houseman, the distinguished Hollywood Producer in the production of his award winning TV anthology series – The Seven Lively Arts for CBS-TV. It was under the tutelage and friendship of burgeoning writers (Reginald Rose) and Directors (Sidney Lumet, George Roy Hill) that he forged his creative skills which, significantly, led to being seconded at 27 to the new CBS-TV Affiliate in as Exec Producer of Light Entertainment & Member of the Programming Board. Resolved to writing for film and television as a career, it was on a visit to and a chance meeting with Roger Moore who gave him the opportunity to develop his writing talents by contributing episodes to his The Saint TV series. Extensive TV writing assignments followed with popular Anglo American series including The Baron (Steve Forrest), Strange Report (Anthony Quayle), Shirleys World (Shirley Mclaine), The Informer (Ian Henry), The Mask of Janus for the BBC – a four-part drama adaptation from a novel Death is a Good Living (Leonard Rossiter).
In 1963, he turned to creating and developing his own TV series and was the first of a few guests Producers with BBC Television. It was Vendetta, his audacious anti mafia TV series airing over 3 years for which he not only provided the leading Italian Actor, numerous episodes, 3 paperbacks from the series published by CORGI but also the music which he commissioned independently from Oscar winning composer John Barry and released on CBS Records. Fluent in Italian, it was only a matter of time before he found his way by chance and design Script Consulting and editing for the inimitable Dino de Laurentiis in . Nurtured and encouraged by de Laurentiis and screen credited on Barbella (Jane Fonda), Danger Diabolik (John Philip Law), Better a Widow (Virna Lisi) and Summertime Killer (Karl Malden) his innovative drive was lost in the restrictive management of rewrites and felt compelled to return to television as Producer of The Venturers a drama series for BBC TV set in the world of high finance.
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