Picture above/ below: Ian Hendry – Rare promotional shot from c.1958

This promotional picture of Ian Hendry looks as though it was taken around 1958. In fact there are certain similarities to the still photograph taken from Room At The Top – released in 1959 – which was his first talking part in film.

Room at the Top was widely lauded, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Best Director for Clayton, Best Actor for Harvey, and Best Supporting Actress for Baddeley, winning Best Actress for Signoret and Best Adapted Screenplay for Paterson. Baddeley’s performance became the shortest ever to be nominated for an acting Oscar (she had 2 minutes and 20 seconds of screen time)

Room at the Top is thought to be the first of the British New Wave of realistic film dramas. It was filmed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, with extensive location work in Halifax, Yorkshire, which stood in for the fictional towns of Warnley and Dufton. Some scenes were also filmed in Bradford, notably with Joe travelling on a bus and spotting Susan in a lingerie shop and the outside of the amateur dramatics theatre. Greystones, a large mansion in the Savile Park area of Halifax, was used for location filming of the outside scenes of the Brown family mansion. Halifax railway station doubled as Warnley Station in the film, and Halifax Town Hall was used for the Warnley Town Hall filming.

Picture: Room At The Top – Lawrence Harvey, Ian Hendry

Awards – Room At The Top (1959)

Academy Awards

Wins

Best Actress in a Leading Role – Simone Signoret
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

Nominations

Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Laurence Harvey
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Hermione Baddeley
Best Director – Jack Clayton

BAFTA Awards

Wins

Best British Film
Best Film from any Source
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role – Simone Signoret

Nominations

Best British Actor – Laurence Harvey
Best British Actor – Donald Wolfit
Best British Actress – Hermione Baddeley
Most Promising Newcomer – Mary Peach

Golden Globe Awards

Win

Samuel Goldwyn Award

Nomination

Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama – Simone Signoret

Cannes Film Festival

Win

Best Actress – Simone Signoret

Nomination

Golden Palm – Jack Clayton

Until next time.

Best wishes

Neil Hendry
Editor, Official Website of Ian Hendry

Further Reading

A detailed account of the life and work of Ian Hendry in the new biography:

Read:  ‘Send in the Clowns – The Yo Yo Life Of Ian Hendry’ by Gabriel Hershman