Celebrity Biographies
John Guillermin
John Guillermin, author of great feature films such as “The Burning Colossus” and the “King Kong” revision, has died on Sunday, September 27, at the age of 89 at his California home, as a result of a heart attack. “He was a sensitive and passionate person, full of fierceness,” his widow has declared.
Born on November 11, 1925, in the British capital, John Guillermin was the son of French parents. After serving in the Air Force, he began his career in Paris as a documentary filmmaker, before moving to Hollywood to study film.
He began his career in Europe, with titles such as the funny comedy Miss Robin Hood , with the legendary Margaret Rutherford as the criminal mastermind, although he soon moved to the United States, where he achieved success with Town on Trial , with John Mills as a police inspector investigating a murder.
Since the end of the 50s, the prolific director has been filming at the rate of one or two films per year, playing genres such as adventure ( Tarzan’s great adventure , Tarzan in India, warfare ( Cannons in Batasi , The Blue Eagles ) and the crime drama ( The Bank of England Robbery .) With his compatriot Peter Sellers he filmed the drama Until the Last Breath and the comedy The Greatest Womanizer .
The worst episode of her life took place during the filming of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle , when her son, Michael-John, died in a traffic accident.
John Guillermin especially triumphed as one of the greats of the disaster cinema of the 70s, with Alarm! Hijacked Flight 502 , with Charlton Heston, and above all with The Burning Colossus , a spectacular production about the burning of a huge and sophisticated building, led by Paul Newman and Steve McQueen . Another gigantic 70’s project directed by him hit the billboards, the 70’s remake of King Kong , with Jeff Bridges and a sensual Jessica Lange.
He said goodbye to the cinema with the disastrous sequel, King Kong 2 , from 1986, a by-product with Linda Hamilton in the title role. Later she would shoot the TV movie Persecuted in Arizona .