Cinema fans will be able to view ?Pinewood Photography 1950-1970? ? the work of portrait photographer George Courtney Ward ? at the Dimbola Lodge Museum.
Running from 20th January until 12th March, the exhibition marks the first retrospective of Ward?s work and includes his famous portraits of Dirk Bogarde.
George Courtney Ward started his career at Eagle Lion studios in Pinewood, working in the publicity department and the stills library. Despite no photographic training he got a job as a portrait photographer and, in a career spanning 30 years, captured some of the most famous names in cinema, including Michael Caine, Frank Sinatra, Alec Guinness and Kenneth More. He also worked on some of the most-loved British films, including Oliver Twist (1948), This Sporting Life (1963), and the Ipcress File (1965). A close friend of Bogarde?s after meeting on the set of Esther Walters (1948), Ward photographed the majority of the actor?s portraits that are still in existence.
Located on the Isle of Wight, the Dimbola Lodge Museum is open from Tuesday ? Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission is £4 for adults and free for children under 16. A selection of talks on Film Studio Portraiture will be running alongside the exhibition, with Tony Dalton and Tim Nicholson from DN Images. Find out more at www.dimbola.co.uk.