1896 - 1977

His career began in Birmingham in 1920 where he worked together with Victor Saville as a film distributor. Within the next two years they both began to produce movies, among them "Woman to Woman" (23) and "The White Shadow" (23).

Already one year later Michael Balcon founded the Gainsborough Studios and took object-lessons at the Ufa in Berlin.

Michael Balcon produced the silent movies "Die Prinzessin und der Geiger" (25), "The Pleasure Garden" (25) with a still unknown director called Alfred Hitchcock,  "The Rat" (25), "The Sea Urchin" (26), "Downhill" (27), "Der Geisterzug" (27), "The Wrecker" (28), "Dolores" (28) and "The First Born" (28).

His company was taken over by Gaumont-British in 1931 but Michael Balcon kept toe position of a chief producer, both for Gainsborough and for Gaumont-British.
To his well-known productions of the 30's belong "Gypsy Land" (30), "Dick Henderson" (30), "Sunshine Susie" (31), "The Stronger Sex" (31), "Michael and Mary" (31), "The Ghost Train" (31), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (31), "Rome Express" (32), "The Ringer" (32), "White Face" (33), "I Was a Spy" (33), "Jew Suess" (34), "The Ghoul" (34), "The 39 Steps" (35), "King of the Damned" (35), "The Two of Us" (36), "The Gaunt Stranger" (38) and "Let's Be Famous" (39).

Michael Balcon also produced brandnew topics in the 40's, which World War 2 made it necessary - "Convoy" (40), "Next of Kin" (42). Other successful movies of the 40's were "Yellow Caesar" (41), "The Big Blockade" (42), "Undercover" (43),"For Those in Peril" (44), "Painted Boats" (45), "The Overlanders" (46), "The Loves of Joanna Godden" (47), "Hue and Cry" (47), "Another Shore" (48) and "Whisky Galore!" (49).

His activity for the film business decreased slowly in the 50's. He worked for the Ealing Studios till to the closure in 1957 and realised the productions "The Magnet" (50), "The Man in the White Suit" (51), "Mandy" (52) and the classic "The Ladykillers" (55).
To his last productions belong "Barnacle Bill" (57), "The Scapegoat" (59) and "Tom Jones" (63). 

Michael Balcon was knight by the English king in 1948. 
His grandson Daniel Day-Lewis became a famous actor.
 

Other movies of Michael Balcon: 
The Prude's Fall (24) The Passionate Adventure (24) A Typical Budget (25) So This Is Jollygood (25) Cut It Out (25) The Blunderland of Big Game (25) Battling Bruisers (25) The Mountain Eagle (26) The Triumph of the Rat (27) The Rolling Road (27) Blighty (27) The Queen Was in the Parlour (27) The Vortex (28) The Constant Nymph (28) Taxi for Two (29) Woman to Woman (29) Just for a Song (29) The Return of the Rat (29) The Crooked Billet (29) City of Play (29) The Walsh Brothers (30) Toyland (30) The Volga Singers (30) Third Time Lucky (30) Symphony in Two Flats (30) Martini and His Band (30) Pete Mandell and His Rhythm Masters (30) Lewis Hardcastle's Dusky Syncopaters (30) Ena Reiss (30) Hal Swain and His Sax-O-Five (30) George Mozart in Domestic Troubles (30) Elsie Percival and Ray Raymond (30) Dusky Melodies (30) Classic v Jazz (30) Black and White (30) Billie Barnes (30) Al Fresco (30) Who Killed Doc Robin? (31) Wee Hoose Among the Heather (31) Tobermory (31) Somebody's Waiting for Me (31) She Is Ma Daisy (31) The Saftest of the Family (31) Roaming in the Gloaming (31) Night in Montmartre (31) Nanny (31) I Love to Be a Sailor (31) I Love a Lassie (31) Hot Heir (31) A Gentleman of Paris (31) Dr. Josser, K.C. (31) Bull Rushes (31) There Goes the Bride (32) The Frightened Lady (32) The Midshipmaid (32) Marry Me (32) Love on Wheels (32) Lord Babs (32) The Faithful Heart (32) The Man They Couldn't Arrest (33) Turkey Time (33) Soldiers of the King (33) Sleeping Car (33) Orders Is Orders (33) The Man from Toronto (33) Jack's the Boy (33) It's a Boy (33) The First Offence (33) Britannia of Billingsgate (33) After the Ball (33) Man of Aran (34) Leave It to Smith (34) Princess Charming (34) Jack Ahoy (34) The Constant Nymph (34) The Iron Duke (34) Evergreen (34) A Cup of Kindness (34) The Clairvoyant (34) The Camels Are Coming (34) Bulldog Jack (34) Red Ensign (35) Me and Marlborough (35) Brown on Resolution (35) The Tunnel (35) Things Are Looking Up (35) Oh, Daddy! (35) Lady in Danger (35) The Guv'nor (35) Foreign Affaires (35) Car of Dreams (35) Where There's a Will (36) The Man Who Changed His Mind (36) Pot Luck (36) Everybody Dance (36) All In (36) Doctor Syn (37) Take My Tip (37) A Yank at Oxford (38) Sailing Along (38) The Ware Case (38) Climbing High (39) Sailors Three (40) The Proud Valley (40) Let George Do It (40) All Hands (40) Ships with Wings (41) The Ghost of St. Michael's (41) The Black Sheep of Whitehall (42) Went the Day Well? (42) The Goose Steps Out (42) Go to Blazes (42) The Foreman Went to France (42) San Demetrio, London (43) My Learned Friend (43) The Bells Go Down (43) The Halfway House (44) Fiddlers Three (44) Champagne Charlie (44) Pink String and Sealing Wax (45) Johnny Frenchman (45) Dead of Night (45) The Captive Heart (46) Nicholas Nickleby (47) Sraband for Dead Lovers (48) Scott of the Antarctic (48) It Always Rains on Sunday (48) Against the Wind (48) A Run for Your Money (49) Train of Events (49) Passport to Pimlico (49) Kind Hearts and Coronets (49) Cage of Gold (50) The Blue Lamp (50) Bitter Springs (50) Where No Vultures Fly (51) Pool of London (51) The Lavender Hill Mob (51) The Square Ring (53) The Cruel Sea (53) Lease of Life (54) The Night My Number Came Up (55) The Feminine Touch (57) The Man in the Sky (57) Nowhere to Go (58) Dunkirk (58) The Long and the Short and the Tall (60)