Movie director and novelist Paul Almond, passed away on April 9 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 83.
Almond was one of Canada’s pre-eminent film and television producer-directors, creating more than 120 pioneering television dramas for the CBC and other networks in the U.S. and the U.K., adapting the works of such legendary playwrights as Dylan Thomas, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams, and creating “Seven Up!,” his precursor to the series of once-every-seventh-year movies Roger Ebert described as “possibly the most important television film ever made.”
Almond directed motion pictures for Paramount and Universal, including his trilogy of movies with Geneviève Bujold — “Isabel,” “Act of the Heart” and “Journey.” His awards included 12 Genies and a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Director’s Guild of America. In 2001, he was appointed to the Order of Canada and in 2007, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Director’s Guild of Canada.
Over the last 15 years, Almond became a full-time novelist, writing his best-selling series of historical adventure stories set in Gaspé, Québec: the eight-volume “Alford Saga,” based on the real-life exploits of four generations of his family over the last 200 years. The final volume was published just a few days after he passed. He was deeply involved in the local community — a Lay Eucharistic Minister at St. Aidan’s Church, headed the Malibu Colony homeowners association, lead the movement to save Malibu Lagoon and helped out Malibu’s homeless.
Almond is survived by his wife, renowned photographer Joan Almond; his son Matthew; and Joan’s four children, Tracy Stoker, Chris, Trey and Tim Elkins; and their spouses and eight grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Aidan’s Church, Malibu and/or the British Heritage Village in New Richmond, Québec.
A funeral service will take place at St. Aidan’s Church at 4 p.m., Sunday, April 26.