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Michael David Apted (10 February 1941 – 7 January 2021) was an English television and film director and producer.
Apted began working in television and directed the Up documentary series from 1970 to 2019). He later directed Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), which was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. His subsequent work included Gorillas in the Mist (1988), Nell (1994), the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999), and Enigma (2001). His film Amazing Grace (2006) premiered at the closing of the Toronto International Film Festival that year.
On 29 June 2003, he was elected president of the Directors Guild of America, a position he served until 2009. He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
During his seven-year period of working at Granada, Apted also directed a number of episodes of Coronation Street, then written by Jack Rosenthal, among others. Apted and Rosenthal later collaborated on a number of popular television and film projects, including the pilot episodes for The Dustbinmen and The Lovers. They worked together again in 1982 for the TV movie P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang, the first film commissioned by Britain's Channel 4. In 1976 Apted directed a play in the Granada TV series Laurence Olivier Presents. The episode was The Collection by Harold Pinter. The play starred Laurence Olivier, Malcolm McDowell, Alan Bates and Helen Mirren.
Apted used his idea from the Up series a second time in Married in America and Married in America 2. The idea was to interview nine married couples every two years over a ten-year period to tell a more complete story of their marriages. In 2005, he directed the first three episodes of the TV series Rome.The three first episodes were:
For his work in television, Apted won several British Academy Awards, including two Flaherty Documentary Awards for his work on 28 Up and 35 Up and a BAFTA for Best Dramatic Director for the single play Kisses at Fifty in 1974.
In 1979 he directed the Hollywood-financed Agatha, featuring Vanessa Redgrave. He went to the United States in 1980, where he directed Coal Miner's Daughter, which received seven Academy Awards nominations, winning best actress for Sissy Spacek. Both Spacek and Loretta Lynn, the subject of the film, have said that they believe Apted's outsider point of view was crucial to the movie's success in securing the participation of Appalachian residents and to the avoidance of stereotypes that previously had marred portrayals of Appalachia.Sissy Spacek and Michael Apted. Feature commentary track, Coal Miner's Daughter 25th Anniversary/Collector's Edition, 2005.Interview with Loretta Lynn and Michael Apted. Featurette on Coal Miner's Daughter 25th Anniversary/Collector's Edition DVD, 2005. In 2019, Coal Miner's Daughter was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Apted also made several films with a strong social message or that deal with an ethical dilemma. In 1983 he directed Gorky Park, a political thriller based on the novel by Martin Cruz Smith, that deals with police corruption in the former Soviet Union. Class Action deals with a corporate whistleblower, and Extreme Measures is about medical ethics. Class Action was entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.
In 1994, he directed Nell, which received three Golden Globe Award nominations and one Academy Award nomination.
In 1999, Apted directed the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
Before the making of Thunderheart, Apted made the documentary Incident at Oglala about Leonard Peltier. Incident at Oglala then informed Thunderheart in the casting of actors for the fiction film..
In 1997, he explored the creative process in Inspirations through candid discussion with seven artists from diverse media, including David Bowie, Louise Lecavalier and Roy Lichtenstein among others.
In a departure from his earlier work, from 1992 to 1994, Apted ventured into China's rapidly changing popular culture. In a project backed by Trudie Styler, Apted directed Moving the Mountain, a feature documentary which probed the origins of the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square and the consequences of the movement in the lives of several of the movement's student leaders.
In 2006, Apted co-directed The Official Film of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, narrated by Pierce Brosnan.
Apted was the collaborator and subject of the documentary: Michael Apted – Visions on Film, by artist and filmmaker Melinda Camber Porter.
Apted's health started to decline shortly after the completion of 63 Up, and he died at his home in Los Angeles on 7 January 2021, at the age of 79.
Documentary film
TV movies
Documentary film
Filmography
Film
1985 Bring On the Night 1992 Incident at Oglala 1994 Moving the Mountain 1997 Inspirations 1999 Me & Isaac Newton 2007 The Power of the Game 2012 56 Up 2014 Bending the Light
Television
1966-1967 Coronation Street 21 episodes 1967 Escape Episode "A Bad Risk" Haunted 1967-1968 City '68 5 episodes 1968-1972 Playhouse 11 episodes 1969 Big Breadwinner Hog 2 episodes Parkin's Patch 8 episodes 1970 The Sinners Episode "Mother Matilda's Book" The Lovers 6 episodes 1971-1972 ITV Saturday Night Theatre Episodes "Another Sunday and Sweet F.A." and "Big Soft Nellie" Follyfoot 2 episodes 1972 Thirty-Minute Theatre Episode "Said the Preacher" 1972-1976 Play for Today 6 episodes 1973 Black and Blue Segment High Kampf 1975 Shades of Greene Episode "The Destructors" 1976 Great Performances Episode "The Collection" Plays for Britain Episode "Paradise Run" 1982-1985 First Love 1991 My Life and Times 2 episodes 1992-1993 Crossroads 1995 New York News Episode "Pilot" 2005 Blind Justice Episode "Leap of Faith" Rome 3 episodes (Including "The Stolen Eagle") 2006 What About Brian Episode "What About the Fish...?" 2013-2016 Ray Donovan 2 episodes Masters of Sex 9 episodes 2014 Reckless Episode "Bloodstone" 2017 Bloodline "Part 30"
1970 7 Plus Seven 1977 21 Up 1984 28 Up 1991 35 Up Age 7 in America 1998 14 Up in America 42 Up 2005 49 Up 2006 21 Up America
Other roles
He served as president of the Directors Guild of America from 2003 to 2009 and served as the secretary-treasurer from 2011 to his death.
Awards and nominations
1974
!scope="row" Stardust 1 1979
!scope="row" Agatha 1 1 2 1980
!scope="row" Coal Miner's Daughter 7 1 2 2 2 1983
!scope="row" Gorky Park 1 1 1988
!scope="row" Gorillas in the Mist 5 1 3 2 1994
!scope="row" Nell 1 3
External links
Categories: 1941 Births, 2021 Deaths, Alumni Of Downing College, Cambridge, Bafta Winners, British Documentary Film Directors, Companions Of The Order Of St Michael And St George, Directors Guild Of America Award Winners, English Expatriates In The United States, English Film Directors, English Television Directors, English Television Producers, Fellows Of Downing College, Cambridge, Grammy Award Winners, People Educated At The City Of London School, People From Aylesbury, Presidents Of The Directors Guild Of America
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