British producer and screenwriter Norman Spencer, 110, died on August 16. He collaborated frequently with David Lean (Blithe Spirit, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence of Arabia), also working on such films as Notorious Gentleman, Vanishing Point, Hobson’s Choice, and the exasperating Katharine Hepburn vehicles Summertime and Suddenly, Last Summer. Of David Lean, Spencer said, “We took a shine to each other — we were both mad about film and started going to the pictures together with our wives.” They would pass bookshops, “and he’d say, ‘Within nine feet of us is a wonderful idea for a film.’” His daughter, Sally-Jane Spencer, is an actress (The Newcomers, The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin). At the time of his death, Spencer was thought to be the oldest man in London.
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