Adrian Malone

Hugh Adrian Malone (3 February 1937 – 13 March 2015) was a British documentary filmmaker who produced and directed a number of documentaries, including The Ascent of Man, The Age of Uncertainty, and Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.

Early life

Malone was born in Bootle, Liverpool, to Philip and Mary Malone. His parents were immigrants from Ireland and ran a fish and chip shop in Bootle. Malone quit his Jesuit school and did not go to university. However, " his reading was deep and wide and his knowledge of history, philosophy, music and art became prodigious."^[1]

Documentary career

In the 1960s, Malone worked for Border Television. In 1968, his documentary about chemical warfare, A Plague on Your Children, "earned him applause from the peace movement, but the undying suspicion of conventional authority." He later began working for the BBC.^[1]

Malone wrote a 40-page document for the Annan Committee, recommending the centralized BBC re-organise as a federation. The suggestion, however, "was not welcomed." In 1977, the same year the Annan Committee's report was published, Malone left the BBC and moved to the United States. He was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania in history of science, and supported Walter Annenberg's idea for the 'center of the visual arts', where documentaries could be produced. After that fell through, Malone moved to California where he began working on the production of Cosmos.^[2]

In 1980, Malone was the executive producer and director of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which starred Carl Sagan. It was the highest rated program in the history of public television until 1990, airing in more than 60 countries and having hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide. Sagan and Malone often clashed in production, with associate producer Judy Flannery later describing them as "...like oil and water. There was a lot of personal competition." Malone recalled their disputes as "somewhat childish . . . the sort of thing you try not to remember." However, he went on to say: "That tension really made things move along pretty quick and made us think always twice, possibly three times, in order to make sure we were getting ahead of each other."^[3]

In January 1986, Malone arrived at the Smithsonian Institution to become executive producer of the documentary program Smithsonian World, then entering its third season. Malone changed the format of the episodes, from a magazine format to looking at single subjects in depth. In total, he oversaw the production of 18 episodes during his time with Smithsonian World. The series won more than 50 awards, including three Emmys and two Primetime Emmys.^[4]

In 1995, Malone produced The Nobel Legacy, a series focusing on different winners of different Nobel Prizes. It was described by the Los Angeles Times as "complex, perplexing, fascinating, occasionally infuriating and eerily beautiful, its subject matter as vast as the universe."^[5]

Personal life

In 1961, he met Thomasina "Ina" Henry at a party in Tyneside, and they married. After his retirement in the 1990s, he returned, with his wife, to Tyneside. Following his retirement, he "devoted his leisure to meticulous woodwork, making racks for his wine, and toy villages and doll’s houses for his grandchildren." They had three children, David, James, and Adrienne.^[1]

Following his death, Malone was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA).^[6]

Awards

Sources: ^[7]

References