estor Montague 'Monty' Berman, producer and cinematographer, born 1912; died June 20 2006. an East End Jew, from Whitechapel, east London. After University College school, Hampstead, he went to work at Twickenham studios, eventually becoming a cameraman, an early notable credit being Michael Powell's semi-documentary The Edge of the World (1937). Later, he worked with the second unit on Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949). He made his debut, as cinematographer and director respectively, when he and Robert S Baker co-produced A Date With a Dream (1948) and Melody Club (1949), two low-budget comedies Berman and Baker were soon established as suppliers of modest, second-feature thrillers, sometimes featuring fading Hollywood stars and boasting titles like Three Steps to the Gallows (1953) and Bond of Fear (1956). They diversified slightly with Love in Pawn (1953), starring Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly, and produced several films in Ireland for Emmett Dalton.

 Blood of the Vampire (1958), with Donald Wolfit in a typically unrestrained performance and Berman making the most of a garish colour process, was followed by Jack the Ripper (1958) and The Flesh and the Fiends (1960), with Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence in a reworking of Burke and Hare. unexpectedly good reviews for The Siege of Sidney Sreet (1960), Probably Berman's most notable production, also as cinematographer, was What a Carve Up! (1961), an adaptation of The Ghoul, co-written by Ray Cooney, Their first commission for TV from Grade was the black and white run of The Saint (1962-65),  Gideon's Way (1965),  The Baron (1966), paired with writer Dennis Spooner, Berman made The Champions (1968), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969-70), Department S (1969-70) made a star of Peter Wyngarde,  Jason King (1971-72)After The Adventurer (1972), with Gene Barry, Berman retired from production. He lived to see his work revived on video, satellite television 

A pdf of Monty Berman's (partial) filmography; and of a cv-publicity handout will be found below the tabs.