Henry Cornelius

Born in South Africa, Henry Cornelius traveled to Europe, where he worked as an actor and director in stage productions in Germany, France and England. In 1933, with the Nazi takeover of Germany, Cornelius left Germany for France, and studied at the Sorbonne. He hooked up with director René Clair and went to England with Clair for The Ghost Goes West (1935) as an assistant editor. He worked his way up the ranks to editor and returned to South Africa, writing documentaries and producing and directing films there. After the end of World War II he went back to England, working as an associate producer and writer. He made his directorial debut with Passport to Pimlico (1949), a well-received comedy from Ealing about a neighborhood in London that, after the war, discovers that it is really not a part of England, and declares its independence. He was also responsible for the delightful Genevieve (1953), a charming comedy about an auto club's annual race between Brighton and London. Cornelius only directed two more films before his death, at age 44, in London in 1958.