British film producer Robert S. Baker teamed with Monte Berman to produce, and occasionally direct, a handful of Gothic horror and science fiction films in the late 1950s. The duo produced the classic 1958 terror tale Blood of the Vampire (1958) starring Sir Donald Wolfit, and the cult sci-fi thriller The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror) (1958) starring Forrest Tucker. They produced and directed the 1959 gruesome recounting of Jack the Ripper (1959), and told the tale of the bodysnatching team of Burke and Hare in 1960′s The Flesh and the Fiends (aka Mania, The Fiendish Ghouls) starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence. They also produced the period thriller The Hellfire Club (1961) and the horror comedy No Place Like Homicide! (aka What a Carve Up!) (1961).
Baker was born in London on October 27, 1916. He served in the Royal Artillery in North Africa during World War II, before being transferred to the Army Film and Photographic Unit. He met fellow combat cameraman Monty Berman, and the two teamed to create Tempean Films after the war. He and Berman produced numerous films throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. They also made occasional forays as directors and screenwriters for their product.
Baker and Berman acquired the television rights to gentleman thief Simon Templar, better known as the Saint, after a meeting with Leslie Charteris, the creator of character. The subsequent series, The Saint, starred Roger Moore and ran form 1962 to 1969. Baker and Berman also produced the television series Gideon’s Way and The Baron. Baker again teamed with Roger Moore to produce the 1969 film Crossplot, and the 1971 television series The Persuaders!. Baker’s film rights to The Saint kept him involved with such later incarnations of the character as the 1978 television series Return of the Saint, starring Ian Ogilvy, and the 1977 film
The Saint, starring Val Kilmer.
Baker died in England on September 30, 2009, at the age of 93.
Written By Harris Lentz, III
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