Donor in focus: John Schlesinger

bfi Special Collections has recently acquired the paper archive of distinguished British film-maker John Schlesinger, director of such classic films as Billy Liar, Darling and Far From the Madding Crowd. Schlesinger began his career as an actor, moving on to write, photograph and direct documentary films before making his first feature film, A Kind of Loving, starring Alan Bates and June Ritchie, in 1962.

The archive fills 140 boxes and comprises a very rich collection of scripts, production papers and correspondence, dating from Schlesinger's earliest work for the BBC TV arts programme Monitor in the 1950s. The material also covers Schlesinger's work in America, including the films Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man and Honky Tonk Freeway.

The archive will compliment other significant bfi holdings, such as the Aileen and Michael Balcon Collection, the Joseph Losey Collection, the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Collection, the David Lean Collection, and the David Puttnam Collection, in telling the story of British cinema and television through primary sources.

The Catalogue is now available in Special Collections and the bfi National Library. The John Schlesinger Collection will prove of immense value to students and historians of film.

The bfi is grateful to Mr. Michael Childers for arranging this donation.