Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Isaakovich Winogradsky, ; 25 December 1906 [<nowiki/>O.S. 7 January 1907] – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Born to Jewish parents in the Russian Empire, he emigrated to the United Kingdom as a child and was raised in London. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 when he founded the Incorporated Television Company (ITC; commonly known as ITC Entertainment) to distribute programmes.
Following the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood, Grade decided to focus on bringing ITC programmes to the American market. Grade had some success in this field with such series as Gerry Anderson's many Supermarionation series such as Thunderbirds, Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner, and Jim Henson's The Muppet Show. Later, Grade invested in feature film production, but several expensive box-office failures caused him to lose control of ITC, and ultimately resulted in the disestablishment of its associate ATV, which lost its ITV franchise.
Early life
Grade was born as Lev Winogradsky
Isaak worked as a trouser-presser while his three sons (Grade and his younger brothers, Bernard (later Bernard Delfont) and Leslie) attended the Rochelle Street Elementary School near Shoreditch, where Yiddish was spoken by 90% of the pupils. For two years the Winogradskys lived in rented rooms at the north end of Brick Lane, before moving to the nearby Boundary Estate.
Early professional life
At the age of 15, Grade became an agent for a clothing company, and shortly afterwards started his own business. In 1926, he was declared Charleston Champion of the World at a dancing competition at the Royal Albert Hall. He later changed this name to Lew Grade, which came from a Paris reporter's typing error that Grade liked and decided to keep. He was signed as a dancer by Joe Collins (father of Jackie and Joan Collins) in 1931. Decades later, the octogenarian Lord Grade once danced the Charleston at a party Arthur Ochs Sulzberger gave in New York.
Talent agent
Around 1934, Grade went into partnership with Joe Collins and became a talent agent in their company Collins & Grade. Among their earliest clients were the harmonica player Larry Adler and the jazz group Quintette du Hot Club de France.
Following the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, Grade became involved in arranging entertainment for soldiers in Harrogate,
Media career
Television: 1954–1962
In 1954, Grade was contacted by the manager of singer Jo Stafford, Mike Nidorf, who notified him of an advertisement in The Times inviting franchise bids for the new, commercial ITV network.
Assembling a consortium that included impresarios Val Parnell and Prince Littler, the Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP), which soon changed its name to Incorporated Television Company (ITC; also known as ITC Entertainment), was formed. ITC's bid to the Independent Television Authority (ITA) was rejected on the grounds of its conflict of interest from its prominence and involvement in artist management.
The Associated Broadcasting Development Company (ABD) had gained ITA approval for both the London weekend and Midlands weekday contracts, but was undercapitalised; Grade's consortium joined with the ABD to form what became Associated Television (ATV). Reflecting his background in variety, Grade's favourite show and a success for the new company was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955–1967, 1973–1974), one of the most popular programmes on British television in its day. Grade did not avoid the other end of the cultural spectrum and in 1958 Sir Kenneth Clark<!-- Not a peer until 1969. --> began to talk about the history of art on television.
Meanwhile, Grade committed the funds for what would become the first trans-Atlantic success of the ITP subsidiary: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–1960), commissioned by UK-based American producer Hannah Weinstein. ITC became a wholly owned ATV subsidiary in 1957. That same year ATV established a music publishing division with ATV Music and gained a half interest in Pye Records in 1959; later Pye became a wholly owned subsidiary.
Television: 1962–1968
Grade was deputy managing director of ATV under Val Parnell until 1962, when he became managing director having contrived to have the board oust Parnell. Grade soon decided that the Midlands deserved its own regular soap opera as a rival to Coronation Street. Crossroads, much derided but ultimately a serious challenge to Granada's series in the ratings, began its initial quarter century run in November 1964.
ITC's success continued and had many internationally successful TV series, leading Howard Thomas, managing director of ABC Weekend TV, to complain that Grade distributed programming for "Birmingham, Alabama, rather than Birmingham, England". These series included The Saint (1962–1969), which was sold to over 80 countries, and two featuring Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man (1960–1968) and The Prisoner (1967–1968). The series, exclusively thrillers, were normally used as summer replacements for American-made programmes until the mid-1960s. While many of Grade's series used American actors in lead roles (The Baron and Man in a Suitcase, for example) it was those series which used an exclusively British cast, such as The Saint (and The Avengers, made by another ITV contractor), which were more successful in the United States.
In 1962, AP Films became a subsidiary of ITC. Co-founded by Gerry Anderson, AP Films produced two marionette puppet ("Supermarionation") series for children during the 1960s: Thunderbirds (1965–1966) and (as Century 21) Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–1968). After a screening of the pilot for Thunderbirds ("Trapped in the Sky", 1964), Grade insisted that the episodes be lengthened to fill a one-hour slot. Unusually for children's television series, these colour programmes were generously budgeted for the time (Grade paid £22,000 per episode) and were successfully repeated internationally.
In 1966, Grade's companies were re-organised again to form the Associated Communications Corporation (ACC). That year, The Sunday Times investigated the interconnected nature of the companies controlled by Grade and his two brothers, Bernard Delfont and Leslie Grade. Their firms, effectively amounting to a "cartel", were agents for most of the major talents in acting as well as entertainment and controlled theatres in both London and the rest of the UK and ATV was a major provider of televised entertainment. at the same time, however, ATV's Midlands franchise was expanded to run throughout the week from July 1968. Through ATV Music, Grade acquired Northern Songs, gaining control of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue.
Foreign sales remained strong for a time (valued at $30 million in 1970) and the ACC received the Queen's Awards for Export in both 1967 and 1969.
Some of the 1970s distributions performed poorly: these included The Julie Andrews Hour (1972–73), which aired for only one season on the ABC Television Network in the United States. This received positive reviews and seven Emmy Awards, including the title of 'Best Variety Series'. The action series The Protectors (1972–74) and The Persuaders! (1971–72),
Film
Grade approached Blake Edwards to revive the Pink Panther franchise as a TV series, an option Edwards was not keen on, but he did work on developing scripts. Eventually, he persuaded Grade to finance the property as a feature film project with he and Peter Sellers waiving their fees in return for a profit-sharing arrangement. Both men's careers had not been prospering for a few years. Only Grade's second big budget feature, Distribution in other countries was undertaken by ITC. The Return of the Pink Panther was a commercially successful release. Other films of the period made with Grade's involvement include the co-releases The Boys From Brazil (1978) with 20th Century Fox and Movie Movie (also 1978) with Warner Bros. He was a producer on the Ingmar Bergman films Autumn Sonata (1978) and From the Life of the Marionettes (1980). Grade was executive producer of The Muppet Movie (1979) and The Great Muppet Caper (1981); Orson Welles portrayed a studio executive named "Lew Lord" in the first film. One domestic British film made by the ITC subsidiary Black Lion Films, The Long Good Friday (1980) was purchased and released by HandMade Films after Grade and his company had effectively disowned it for, in Grade's reputed opinion, seeming to be sympathetic to the IRA.
Grade's backing of an expensive "all-star" flop was to prove decisive. Of Raise the Titanic (1980), an adaptation of the novel by Clive Cussler, Grade himself observed that "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic".
Later years
In 1980, Grade's standing in the mass media industry was damaged by two events: the poor reception for Raise the Titanic, and a decision that, effective from 1 January 1982 ATV Midlands would be permitted to keep its licence only on the condition that it terminate its association with Grade and ITC (ultimately leading to its re-branding as Central Television). Grade resigned his position in the company while it underwent a series of partnerships and mergers. In 1982, he lost control of ACC to Robert Holmes à Court, who dismissed him and all his staff. Subsequently, he became a producer of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Starlight Express. After Coca-Cola had bought Embassy, he became the head of a new venture, the Grade Company, in 1985, and was elected a vice-president of the Loews Group chain of cinemas in the United States. The Grade Company produced adaptations for television of works by novelist Dame Barbara Cartland; he owned the rights to 450 of her romances. He was created a life peer (as Baron Grade of Elstree in the County of Hertfordshire) on 22 June 1976. He reportedly chose Elstree as his territorial designation because ATV's main studios were based there.
Death
In 1978, Grade, then aged 71, told interviewer Mike Wallace on the CBS program 60 Minutes, "I don't intend to retire until the year 2000." Grade died of heart failure aged 91 on 13 December 1998 in London. He was buried at the Liberal Jewish Cemetery in London's Willesden neighbourhood.
BBC Radio 2 transmitted two one-hour tribute programmes on 24 and 25 December 2006 as a celebration of Grade's life and marking the centenary of his birth.