Sydney Cecil Newman, OC (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman was appointed Acting Director of the Broadcast Programs Branch for the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) and then head of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He also occupied senior positions at the Canadian Film Development Corporation and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and acted as an advisor to the Secretary of State. During his time in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, he worked first with the Associated British Corporation (ABC, now Thames Television), before moving across to the BBC in 1962, holding the role of Head of Drama with both organisations. During this phase of his career, he was responsible for initiating two hugely popular television programmes, the spy-fi series The Avengers and the science-fiction series Doctor Who, as well as overseeing the production of groundbreaking social realist drama series such as Armchair Theatre and The Wednesday Play. The Museum of Broadcast Communications describes Newman as "the most significant agent in the development of British television drama." His obituary in The Guardian declared that "For ten brief but glorious years, Sydney Newman ... was the most important impresario in Britain ... His death marks not just the end of an era but the laying to rest of a whole philosophy of popular art." In Quebec, as commissioner of the NFB, he attracted controversy for his decision to suppress distribution of several politically sensitive films by French Canadian directors. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birthday: April 01, 1917
Death: October 30, 1997
January 01, 1948
June 15, 1983
August 17, 1944
January 01, 1951
August 23, 1965
August 13, 1998
November 05, 1966
December 25, 2015
May 07, 1961
September 20, 1959
September 13, 1959
January 03, 1960
July 08, 1962
January 29, 1961
October 23, 1960
March 08, 1959
August 19, 1962
October 11, 1959
April 03, 1960
October 08, 1961
January 01, 1946
January 01, 1943
March 13, 1944
January 01, 1948
January 01, 1949
January 01, 1951
July 08, 1943
January 01, 1948
January 01, 1946
March 14, 1944
March 25, 1965
December 03, 1945
July 13, 1947
January 01, 1947
December 31, 1949
August 18, 1948
August 18, 1949
January 01, 1947
January 01, 1949
January 01, 1948
January 01, 1949
February 01, 1959
March 14, 1944
December 25, 2011
January 01, 1947
April 24, 1960
January 10, 1951
January 30, 2006
January 31, 2006
January 01, 1989
March 13, 1953
December 11, 1960
September 11, 1960
April 24, 1960
March 05, 1961
June 23, 1966
September 10, 1960
September 24, 1961
March 26, 2005
January 07, 1961
November 23, 1963
September 30, 1964