THE SPECIAL ONES
Actress Vivien Leigh was the first woman to be presented with a Fellow certificate, at the British Film Academy Awards dinner in 1953. This was a very different, more academic honour than today’s Fellowship, with the recipient elected by existing Fellows and expected to deliver a lecture to members. It was retired in 1958, with the current annual Fellowship award introduced in 1971. As such, actresses Jeanne Moreau and Dame Maggie Smith were the first film-related Fellows of the Academy (both presented in 1996), although legendary television producer Grace Wyndham Goldie was the first woman to officially be presented with the award in 1973. The recipient of the Academy’s inaugural Special Award was journalist Dilys Powell in 1984, for her services to the art of film criticism. The organisation’s current second highest honour, the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, was presented to producer Joyce Herlihy in 2000, followed by casting director Mary Selway the next year. I N T E R N A L A F FA I R S
BAFTA’s first female (and longest serving) president was HRH Princess Anne (19722001), while Amanda Berry is our longest serving chief executive (2000-present, see box out). Television producer Hilary Bevan Jones became BAFTA’s first female chair in 2006. Finally, film producer Barbara Broccoli was made vice-president (for film) in 2016. Five of the 11 members of our Board of Trustees are women.
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A S CH I EF E X ECU T I VE, A M A N DA B ER RY, EN T ERS H ER 20 t h YE A R AT BA F TA , WE D ISCOVER H OW T H E O RGA N ISAT I O N H A S CH A N G ED U N D ER H ER ST E WA R DSH I P... What did you know about BAFTA before you started? It may sound a little corny, but I always aspired to be a BAFTA member. When I started in the industry, my first boss was a member and I hoped one day that I would be qualified enough to join, too. When I became a producer, I moved up to Scotland and joined BAFTA Scotland. I actually produced a number of BAFTA Awards ceremonies for ITV, so I got to know BAFTA well. I admired it as an organisation, so when the job of director of development and events was advertised in 1998, I knew I wanted to do it, even though it meant a pay cut and a move from Glasgow back to London. What do you think you brought to BAFTA? When I joined, there was a very small number of staff – around 15 or 20. There’s more than 100 of us now. The staff were incredibly dedicated, working hard to deliver numerous events, but financially the organisation wasn’t robust. Although incredible events were being delivered and the BAFTA brand was strong, ambitions for the organisation were understandably limited. I wanted us to be as ambitious as we possibly could, and one way we could achieve this was to bring in more commercial partners. There was a feeling at the time that it wasn’t right for BAFTA, but I believed that if we found the right partners – those who believed in BAFTA’s values – it would allow us to grow and develop our amazing activities and initiatives. We now work with 60 partners and each and every one of them helps us deliver our mission. I know this is a cliché, but in many ways it was about daring to dream.