Raymond Stross

Raymond Stross (22 May 1916 – 31 July 1988) was a British film producer.^[1][2] His work was notable in part for its relatively frank sexual content and his long professional association with wife actor Anne Heywood.^[3]

Raymond Stross
Born	(1916-05-22)22 May 1916 Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Died	31 July 1988(1988-07-31) (aged 72) Beverly Hills, California, United States
Occupation	Film producer
Spouse	Anne Heywood ​ (m. 1960)​

Early life and education

Stross was born on 22 May 1916 in Leeds. He was educated at Roynd Hay High School and Abingdon School from 1929 until 1933 and was a member of the second XV rugby team.^[4]

Film

Stross left school at age sixteen at went to work at Shepperton Studios. He started Sturt Stross Film Productions in 1937 becoming the second youngest director-producer in the country at the time. His company's first production was a film called The Show's the Thing^[5] He also directed the 1937 film The Reverse Be My Lot.

He then went to work for various distributors and became branch manager in Northern Ireland for Columbia pictures. Stross bought a cimema in Belfast and bought up a chain. Then he bought another chain at Norwich. In 1948 Stross travelled to the US to increase his knowledge and prepare for the move into production.^[6]

Stross' first film as producer was the 1951 production of Hell is Sold Out, which included Richard Attenborough in his first comedy role.^[7][2][8] He soon became an "international" producer, frequently using American stars in his movies in order to make them more appealing to the world market.^[6]

Ray Stiles, bassist with Mud and The Hollies, called himself Stross in tribute.

Stross had a huge box office success with The Fox (1967).^[9]

Personal life

Stross was married to an American with whom he had a daughter, Laraine. He then married actress Clare Corey-James in March 1955 and attend the premiere of As Long as They's Happy that night.^[10]

In July 1959 Stross announced he would marry actress Anne Heywood, who he met making A Terrible Beauty. "It was love at first sight," said Heywood. Stross apparently proposed the day after they met. He was still married to Corey-James who was by then a literary agent.^[11] He cited David Deutsch as a co-respondent in the divorce case.^[12] Stross was granted a divorce on account of adultery between Deutsch and his second wife.^[13] Corey-James later announced she would marry Deutsch.^[14]

Stross and Haywood married in March 1960^[15] and they had a son and daughter.^[2] He died in 1988 at his home in Beverly Hills, California.^[2]

Selected filmography

• The Show's the Thing (1936) – director
• The Reverse Be My Lot (1937) – director
• Hell Is Sold Out (1951) – producer
• The Tall Headlines (1952) – producer
• The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952) – producer
• Rough Shoot (1953) – producer
• Star of India (1954) – producer
• As Long as They're Happy (1955) – producer
• An Alligator Named Daisy (1955) – producer
• Jumping for Joy (1956) – producer
• A Touch of the Sun (1956) – producer
• The Flesh Is Weak (1957) – producer
• A Question of Adultery (1958) – producer
• The Angry Hills (1959) – producer
• A Terrible Beauty (1960) – producer
• The Mark (1961) – producer
• The Brain (1962) – producer
• The Very Edge (1963) – producer
• The Leather Boys (1964) – producer
• Ninety Degrees in the Shade (1965) – producer
• The Fox (1967) – producer
• Midas Run (1969) – producer
• I Want What I Want (1972) – producer
• Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979) – producer

See also

• List of Old Abingdonians