Peter Bradford, who has died aged 99, was a documentarist who made more than 100 films in a 40-year career – mostly designed to explain, teach, advocate and promote – for government departments, quangos, charities and companies.
Born in Bradford Abbas, Dorset, Peter was the son of Job Bradford, an accountant, and his wife, May (nee Tremellen). He attended Bryanston school – where he recalled an inspirational visit by the documentarist Basil Wright – followed by the photography course at the Bauhaus-influenced Reimann School of Art in London.
During the second world war Peter was head of photographic naval intelligence, based in Oxford; his work informed the Normandy landings. While there he encountered several associates of the film-maker Paul Rotha, and that led to his first job in film, learning scriptwriting, supervising animation, acting as cameraman and beginning to direct.
He worked for Rotha until 1948, then developed his directing skills with the documentary unit at Associated British Pathé until 1957. In 1960 he branched into production and worked for World Wide Pictures until 1980. Thereafter he freelanced for the Shell Film Unit until his retirement.
Peter was a craftsman. His films demonstrate an attention to detail that stretches from the composition of shots to the care of their expository structure, and an awareness of their potential educational impact. A few examples convey his range. In 1946-48 he began to develop his style in films for the Board of Education’s History of Writing project with the archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes. People, Productivity and Change (1963) for the British Productivity Council was designed to promote discussion between management and workers. A Future for the Past (1971) for the Civic Trust, winner of the first Grierson prize for documentary, argued for urban preservation. Malaria (1985) for Shell won the gold award of the BMA film competition in the year of its release.
It was Peter’s core characteristics – not strongly political, espousing liberal values, wanting to do a good job – that guaranteed him almost continuous employment and enormous productivity across the troubled and rapidly changing years of postwar documentary.
In 1947 he married Sylvia Crammer, whom he had met when both worked for Rotha. A decade ago, contributing to the BFI’s Shadows of Progress documentary history project, I had the pleasure of interviewing them both. For many years they lived in Buckinghamshire, and after retirement settled in Thame, Oxfordshire. Peter was a keen amateur actor, an artist and a governor of Bath Academy of Art. He enjoyed winemaking, and developed a method of making yoghurt at home that was credited in Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course.
Sylvia died in 2011. Peter is survived by their children, William, Tom and Emma, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
