James Hill; ‘Born Free,’ ‘Avengers’ Director Was 75

James Hill, whose directorial scenery ranged from the rich African veld of “Born Free” to posh British estates where “The Avengers” often worked their wily ways, has died.

The Associated Press reported this week that Hill--who won an Academy Award for his 1960 short film “Giuseppina”--was 75 when he died in London on Oct. 7.

Neither The Times of London nor the wire service reported a cause of death.

Although the commercial success of “Born Free,” an overwhelmingly popular picture of 1966, could have given Hill the choice of projects earlier denied him, he continued into his later years directing the small, quaint films he found appealing.

“Giuseppina,” one of his first pictures, was an example.

Produced in Britain and sponsored by British Petroleum, it was almost a formless documentary of one afternoon in the life of the daughter of a service station proprietor. Hill’s unobtrusive camera tracked her wry observations of her father’s customers.

After a brief stint as an actor with the Bradford Civic Playhouse near his birthplace in Airedale, England, Hill began directing after joining Britain’s General Post Office Film Unit. Funded by the government, it produced a series of documentaries still considered among the best of the genre.

He joined the Royal Air Force as a filmmaker shortly after World War II broke out in 1939 and found himself on bombing raids over Germany and Italy.

Hill--sometimes confused with U.S. producer James Hill who was once married to Rita Hayworth--was taken prisoner after being shot down over Germany and was later decorated for bravery.

Following the success of “Giuseppina,” Hill in 1961 directed a film adaptation of Arnold Wesker’s stage play “The Kitchen,” and in 1962 made two film versions of plays by John Mortimer: “The Dock Brief” (known in the United States as “Trial and Error”), which starred Peter Sellers as an unsuccessful attorney, and “Lunch Hour” with Shirley Anne Field.

In 1965, he moved into the mystery-horror field with “A Study in Terror” and then to pop music with “Every Day’s a Holiday.”

“A Study in Terror” was an imaginative account of how Sherlock Holmes identified Jack the Ripper and featured some of Britain’s best-known actors: Anthony Quayle, John Neville, Donald Houston and Judi Dench. “Every Day’s a Holiday” had Freddie and the Dreamers as a prime musical attraction.

Neither of the films was well received.

During the 1960s, Hill also worked in television, writing and directing many episodes of two popular and long-running thriller series--”The Saint” and “The Avengers.”

“Born Free,” based on Joy Adamson’s autobiographical account of a family of lions and filmed in Kenya, starred the husband-and-wife team Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as game wardens. But the real stars were Elsa, the lioness, and her cubs.

The documentary-drama, with its intimate examination of the family life of lions, was a huge hit with audiences of all ages.

Hill followed that with other animal films--”An Elephant Called Slowly” in 1970, again with McKenna and Travers; “Black Beauty” in 1971 based on Victorian writer Anna Sewell’s children’s classic about a horse; “The Lion at World’s End,” which Hill co-directed with Travers in 1971, and “The Belstone Fox” in 1973.