Michael Balcon

Michael Balcon
Michael Balcon in 1949
Born	Michael Elias Balcon (1896-05-19)19 May 1896 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Died	17 October 1977(1977-10-17) (aged 81) Hartfield, East Sussex, England
Spouse(s)	Aileen Freda Leatherman (1924–1977)
Relatives	Daniel Day-Lewis (grandson) Tamasin Day-Lewis (granddaughter)

Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer, known for his work with Ealing Studios. Balcon had earlier worked for Gainsborough Pictures, Gaumont British and MGM-British.

Born in Birmingham, Balcon was the youngest son and fourth of five children of Louis Balcon (c. 1858–1946) and his wife, Laura (née Greenberg; c. 1863–1934), Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who had met in Britain. Growing up in a respectable but impoverished setting, in 1907 Balcon won a scholarship to Birmingham's George Dixon Grammar School, where a plaque is erected, but had to leave in 1913 owing to his family's financial needs. He worked as a jeweller's apprentice, was turned down for service in the First World War because of defective eyesight, and joined the Dunlop Rubber Company's huge plant at Aston Cross in 1915, rising to become personal assistant to the managing director.

After the war, Balcon's friend Victor Saville suggested a partnership to establish a film distribution company. The company, Victory Motion Pictures, led to them settling in London, and an office in Soho was opened in 1921. In 1923, their first feature film was released, the successful melodrama Woman to Woman, starring Clive Brook and Betty Compson and directed by Graham Cutts. They leased Islington Studios and formed the more long-lasting Gainsborough Pictures.

The studio, recently vacated by the Hollywood company Famous Players-Lasky (later Paramount Pictures) was small but well equipped and fully staffed. A young Alfred Hitchcock was one of its employees. Balcon gave Hitchcock his first directing opportunity, and Gainsborough gained a reputation for producing high-quality films.