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From Filming to Farming
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From filming to Farming
3 of 3
From Filming to Farming
Drummond Challis now enjoys retired life, but as a film producer and director his career spanned several award-winning productions. You may have also recently seen his fascinating ‘Prince Charles Backstage at Covent Garden’, at a rare showing in aid of Gulworthy Church.
Drummond grew up in London, becoming very familiar with the film industry from an early age, since his father Christopher Challis, was a celebrated director of photography responsible for a wealth of well-known films including Genevieve, Mary Queen of Scots, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, and Force 10 from Navarone. Filming was often a family affair, particularly during long summer holidays on location in the south of France, where the climate was more consistent for filming. Father Christopher often worked with the legendary filmmakers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who entrusted Drummond with his first film, The Boy who Turned Yellow, for the Children’s Film Foundation. Drummond studied social anthropology at Cambridge University, and was also a keen rower, taking part in the University Boat Race twice. It was actually his sporting experience and prowess which helped him climb the first rung of the film industry ladder. Drummond’s father didn’t help him build a career in film, saying it was important to make his own name, so Drummond trained in the camera department of Samuelson Film Service Ltd in Cricklewood. His lucky break came in 1970 when Billy Wilder was making The Private
Life of Sherlock Holmes and needed an adviser with rowing knowledge. Drummond was given the job of teaching actor Robert Stephens how to row, as well as orchestrating two rowing crews. When it came to filming the scene in Oxford, Billy Wilder declared he didn’t understand rowing and handed over direction of the film crew and 3000 extras to Drummond, who was only 24 at the time. Unfortunately, the final film was too long and the boat scene was cut – however it has since been re-instated. Drummond went on to work with the British director John Schlesinger on David Wolper’s Visions of Eight, the official film of the 1972 Olympic Games, created by eight renowned filmmakers. John Schlesinger’s segment focused on the marathon at the end, so when the devastating terrorist attack interrupted the event, the task of covering it fell to Drummond, the other seven filmmakers having already departed.
Drummond set up Worldmark Productions in 1975 with Michael Samuelson and Tony Maylam, and so began a raft of award-winning films covering famous sporting events with commentaries by the likes of Sean Connery and Michael Caine: White Rock, the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games film which won a Platinum soundtrack for the score by Rick Wakeman; G’ole, the 1982 World Cup in Spain; Hero, the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, which made Diego Maradona a household name and was the second biggest grossing film in South America that year; Shoot Out, the 1990 World Cup in Italy; La Coupe de la Gloire, the 1998 World Cup in France. Drummond positioned cameras to capture the heat of the action in close-up and slow motion, putting the star players in the driving seat – sometimes literally, when James Coburn rode in a 4-man bobsleigh during filming for White Rock. Drummond produced The Riddle of the Sands in 1978, a British spy thriller starring Michael York, Simon MacCorkindale and Jenny Agutter, which was photographed by his father. The film has enjoyed enduring public popularity, attracting requests for talks from all over the country. However, Drummond had to go to audacious lengths to secure his preferred cast, including seeking out Michael York’s lodgings and hand-delivering a script, cold-calling Simon MacCorkindale, and tossing a script into Jenny Agutter’s open-top mini after a hurried conversation at traffic lights.
When Drummond retired, he came to live in the South West, settling in Gulworthy with a plan to sail round the world. He had a yacht built which he kept in Plymouth where he could enjoy the wonderful sailing around the local coast. His daughter Laura, agreed to accompany him on the first leg across the Atlantic, although Drummond recalls she was more interested in Tom, one of his crew members, than in sailing - the couple later got married and now live locally. Drummond didn’t make it round the world but he did reach the US and sail back via Greenland. Back in Gulworthy, he started keeping sheep – or ‘hobby farming’ as he called it – learning the basics from farming friends. It became an all-consuming, full-time job and lying in a lambing shed at 2am was far removed from his previous existences, yet very fulfilling. After two hip replacements, he decided to give it up though and move to Tavistock to concentrate on rallying his 1930 vintage car. Drummond is proud of his films and hopes they will continue to give people enjoyment.
Rosemary Bes