| Raymond Stross | |
| Birth Date: | 22 May 1916 |
| Birth Place: | Leeds, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation: | Film producer |
Raymond Stross (22 May 1916 – 31 July 1988) was a British film producer.[1] [2]
Stross was born on 22 May 1916 in Leeds. He was educated at Roynd Hay High School and Abingdon School from 1929 until 1933 and was a member of the second XV rugby team.[3]
Stross left school at age sixteen at went to work at Shepperton Studios. He started Sturt Stross Film Productions in 1937 becoming the second youngest director-producer in the country at the time. His company's first production was a film called The Show's the Thing[4] He also directed the 1937 film The Reverse Be My Lot.
He then went to work for various distributors and became branch manager in Northern Ireland for Columbia pictures. Stross bought a cimema in Belfast and bought up a chain. Then he bought another chain at Norwich. In 1948 Stross travelled to the US to increase his knowleddge and prepare for the move into production.[5]
Stross' first film as producer was Hell is Sold Out.[2] [6] He soon became an "international" producer, frequently using American stars in his movies in order to make them more appealing to the world market.[5]
Ray Stiles, bassist with Mud and The Hollies, called himself Stross in tribute.
Stross had a huge box office success with The Fox (1967).[7]
Stross was married to an American with whom he had a daughter, Laraine. He then married actress Clare Corey-James in March 1955 and attend the premiere of As Long as They's Happy that night.[8]
In July 1959 Stross announced he would marry actress Anne Heywood, who he met making A Terrible Beauty. "It was love at first sight," said Heywood. Stross apparently proposed the day after they met. He was still married to Corey-James who was by then a liteary agent.[9] He cited David Deutshc as a co-respondent in the divorce case.[10] Stross was granted a divorce on account of adultery between Deutsch and his second wife.[11] Corey James later announced she would marry Deutsch.[12]
Stross and Haywood married in March 1960[13] and they had a son and daughter.[2] He died in 1988 at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[2]