Robin Spry

Robin Spry

Personal Info

  • Name:

    Robin Spry

  • Birthday:

    1939-10-25

  • Place of Birth: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Gender:

    Male

  • Know For:

    Directing

  • Popularity: 2.131
  • Also Known As

Robin Spry

Biography

Robin Spry (October 25, 1939 – March 28, 2005) was a Canadian film director and television producer and screenwriter.

Spry was perhaps best known for his documentary films Action: The October Crisis of 1970 and Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis about Quebec's October Crisis.

Robin Spry was born in Toronto, Ontario to Canadian broadcast pioneer Graham Spry and economic historian Irene Spry.

After studies at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, Spry began his filmmaking career in 1964 at the National Film Board in Montreal, earning a place on its payroll in 1965 and remaining there until stepping down in 1978. While at the NFB Spry built a reputation as a documentarist engaged with the issues of the day, with films on abortion, youth rebellion, and contemporary politics. His Prologue documented the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, weaving narrative with archival footage to become, in 1969, the first Canadian film to appear at the Venice Film Festival. His Canadian Film Award-winning documentary Action: The October Crisis of 1970 (1973) used a similar approach to tell the story of the kidnapping of British diplomat James Richard Cross and the murder of Pierre Laporte. Spry also tried his hand at other aspects of the film trade, acting as a producer, filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, cinematographer and film editor, and appearing in several colleagues' films, including Denys Arcand's Québec, Duplessis et après" (1972), reading out sections of the 1837 Durham Report. Spry starred in the 1981 hostage film Kings and Desperate Men.

In the mid-1970s Spry left the NFB to focus on production work, founding Telescene and then, upon its bankruptcy in 2000, continuing to work with other production firms in Montreal. Among the films he produced were Léa Pool's À corps perdu (1988), André Forcier's Une histoire inventée (1990), and John Hamilton's The Myth of the Male Orgasm (1993); he was also responsible for a number of television series, such as The Lost World. Other notable works included the 1995 mini-series, Hiroshima, about the events leading up to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which won a Canadian Gemini Award and was nominated for an American Emmy, as well as earlier films One Man (1977), Drying Up the Streets (1978), and Suzanne (1980). Spry died in an early-morning road accident on March 28, 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, leaving behind a son, Jeremy, and a daughter, Zoé, whom he had fathered by journalist Carmel Dumas (from whom he was divorced at the time of his death).

The first season of Charlie Jade was dedicated to his memory, as mentioned in the credits of the final episode, as was Air Crash Investigation's episode "Mistaken Identity".

Source: Article "Robin Spry" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Top Movie Cast

Kings and Desperate Men
Kings and Desperate Mentrue- Harry Gibson

1981-08-22

3.0
Québec: Duplessis and After ...
Québec: Duplessis and After ...true- Narrator - Durham Report (1838)

1972-06-23

10.0

Top Movie Crew

The Ernie Game
The Ernie Gametrue

Directing

1968-11-14

4.4
Malarek
Malarektrue

Production

1988-12-16

4.0
A Cry in the Night
A Cry in the Nighttrue

Writing

1992-09-17

3.8
A Cry in the Night
A Cry in the Nighttrue

Production

1992-09-17

3.8
The Windsor Protocol
The Windsor Protocoltrue

Production

1998-11-10

3.7
Action : The October Crisis of 1970
Action : The October Crisis of 1970true

Directing

1973-09-16

7.5
Straight for the Heart
Straight for the Hearttrue

Production

1988-09-30

4.4
A Cry in the Night
A Cry in the Nighttrue

Directing

1992-09-17

3.8
Keeping Track
Keeping Tracktrue

Directing

1987-01-30

5.2
Ride for Your Life
Ride for Your Lifetrue

Directing

1967-01-01

0.0
Action : The October Crisis of 1970
Action : The October Crisis of 1970true

Production

1973-09-16

7.5
Little White Crimes
Little White Crimestrue

Writing

1966-01-01

0.0
Drying Up the Streets
Drying Up the Streetstrue

Directing

1978-08-26

1.0
Student Seduction
Student Seductiontrue

Production

2003-05-05

6.2
Hitting Home
Hitting Hometrue

Production

1988-08-24

4.0
Hitting Home
Hitting Hometrue

Writing

1988-08-24

4.0
One Man
One Mantrue

Directing

1977-04-26

0.0
Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis
Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisistrue

Directing

1973-01-01

0.0
Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis
Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisistrue

Production

1973-01-01

0.0
Nightmare Man
Nightmare Mantrue

Production

1999-01-01

0.0
Prologue
Prologuetrue

Directing

1970-01-29

0.0
Prologue
Prologuetrue

Production

1970-01-29

0.0
Suzanne
Suzannetrue

Writing

1981-09-18

4.0
Suzanne
Suzannetrue

Directing

1981-09-18

4.0
You Don't Back Down
You Don't Back Downtrue

Crew

1965-01-01

0.0
Keeping Track
Keeping Tracktrue

Writing

1987-01-30

5.2
You Don't Back Down
You Don't Back Downtrue

Writing

1965-01-01

0.0
One Man
One Mantrue

Writing

1977-04-26

0.0
Hitting Home
Hitting Hometrue

Directing

1988-08-24

4.0
An Imaginary Tale
An Imaginary Taletrue

Production

1991-05-26

4.2
Action : The October Crisis of 1970
Action : The October Crisis of 1970true

Writing

1973-09-16

7.5

Profile Images