Ray Austin (director)


Raymond Austin was a British television and film director, television writer and producer, and stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
WWW Official Site

Life and career

Austin was born in London on 5 December 1932. He started his career as a stunt performer on such films as North by Northwest and Spartacus. From 1965 to 1967 he served as stunt coordinator on 50 episodes of The Avengers. For The Champions he initially became involved as a second unit director, subsequently rising to the position of full director.
His work as a television director included episodes of The Avengers, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Space: 1999, four episodes of Vega$,''The New Avengers, and V. He directed 50 of the 88 episodes of the series Zorro, which was filmed in Madrid between 1989 and 1992 for the American ABC Family channel. He had also directed some made-for-TV films, including The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E., and some feature films such as 1,000 Convicts and a Woman, Virgin Witch, and House of the Living Dead.
The Guinness World Records states that "In 1965, Dame Diana Rigg became the first western actress to perform kung fu on Television when the combat choreographers Ray Austin and Chee Soo worked elements of the martial art into her fight scenes on The Avengers. Certificate presentation was done on The New Paul O'Grady Show''."

Personal life and death

In 1976, Austin married actress Yasuko Nagazumi, who performed in some of the series he worked on, notably Space: 1999. His step-daughter, Miki Berenyi of the band Lush, describes her relationship with him in part 1 of her memoir Fingers Crossed. He later divorced Nagazumi and married British producer and writer Wendy DeVere Knight-Wilton in 1984; they later lived in Earlysville, Virginia, US.
Austin died at his home in Virginia on 17 May 2023, at the age of 90.

Television

Stunts

Highway Patrol, 1955-59 Thunder Road, 1958 North by Northwest, 1959 Operation Petticoat, 1959 Spartacus, 1960 The Sundowners, 1960 Have Gun – Will Travel, 1957-63 Peter Gunn, 1958-60, 1960-61 Guns of Navarone, 1961 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 1961 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, 1962 Tarzan, 1963 Tom Jones, 1963 Cleopatra, 1963 The Dirty Dozen, 1967

Actor

The Saint, 1963-64, 1966The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, 1962 Tom Jones, 1963 Clash by Night, 1963 The V.I.P.s, 1963 Ghost Squad, 1964The Avengers, 1965

Director

The Baron, 1966The Saint, 1968 The Avengers, 1968 The Champions, 1968Journey to the Unknown, 1968-69The Ugliest Girl in Town, 1968-69Department S, 1969 Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), 1969-70 Strange Report, 1971Shirley's World, 1971-72The Adventures of Black Beauty, 1974Space: 1999, 1975-76The New Avengers, 1976 The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, 1977-79W.E.B., 1978The Professionals, 1978 Return of the Saint, 1978 Barnaby Jones, 1978 Sword of Justice, 1978 Vega$, 1978-81Salvage 1, 1979 A Man Called Sloane, 1979 Hawaii Five-O, 1979 B. J. and the Bear, 1979-80 Hart to Hart, 1979-80, 1984 Wonder Woman, 1979From Here to Eternity, 1980The Love Boat, 1980 House Calls, 1980-82Quincy, M.E., 1981 Magnum, P.I., 1981-86Simon & Simon, 1982 Tales of the Gold Monkey, 1982 The Mississippi, 1983-84The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E., 1983 Jessie, 1984The Master, 1984Airwolf, 1984 The Fall Guy, 1984 Lime Street, 1985, 1987 V, 1985 Our House, 1986-87The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, 1987 Snoops, 1989The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1989 Zorro, 1992The Boys of Twilight, 1992Highlander: The Series, 1992-93 Pensacola: Wings of Gold, 1997 CI5: The New Professionals, 1999

Writer

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), 1969Department S, 1971Shirley's World, 1971-72The Adventures of Black Beauty, 1974Magnum, P.I., 1980-86Hart to Hart, 1984The Master, 1984The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood, 1984 Airwolf, 1985Lime Street, 1985Spenser: For Hire, 1986Our House, 1986-88

Producer

Shirley's World, 1971-72JAG, 1995-96, 1997The New Avengers

Film

Stunts

North by Northwest, 1959 Operation Petticoat, 1959 Spartacus, 1960 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 1961 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, 1962 Cleopatra, 1963 Tom Jones, 1963

Director

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 1961 Fun and Games, 1971Virgin Witch, 1972House of the Living Dead, 1973

Actor

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner as CraigThe V.I.P.s as Rolls-Royce chauffeurClash by Night as Intruder

Novelist