local life
Childwickbury Manor, Harpenden Aerial photo of Childwickbury Manor, Harpenden
Actor Tom Cruise with Christiane Kubrick widow of film director Stanley Kubrick
performances for the final cut of Dr. Strangelove after being promised by Kubrick that they were warmups and would not actually be in the movie. Kubrick’s employees and crew members have stated that he was notorious for not complimenting anyone, and rarely showed admiration for his coworkers for fear it would make them complacent. Kubrick complimented them on their work only after the movie was finished, unless he felt their work was “genius.” The only actors that Kubrick called “genius” were Peter Sellers, James Mason, and Malcolm McDowell. Michael Herr, in his otherwise positive memoir of his friendship with Kubrick, complained that Kubrick was extremely cheap and very greedy about money. He stated that Kubrick was a “terrible man to do business with” and that the director was upset until the day he died that Jack Nicholson made more money from The Shining than he did. Kirk Douglas often commented on Kubrick’s unwillingness to compromise, his out-of-control ego, and his ruthless determination to make a film his own distinct work of art instead of a group effort. However, Douglas has acknowledged that a large part of his dislike for Kubrick was caused by the director’s consistently negative statements about Spartacus. Many of those who worked with Kubrick have spoken kindly of him since his death, including coworkers and friends Jack Nicholson, Diane Johnson, Tom Cruise, Joe Turkel, Con Pederson, Carl Solomon, Ryan O’Neal, Anthony Frewin, Ian Watson, John Milius, Jocelyn Pook, Sydney Pollack, R. Lee Ermey, and others. Michael Herr’s memoir of Kubrick, and Matthew Modine’s book Full Metal Jacket Diary show a much kinder, saner, and warmer version of Kubrick than the conventional view of him as cold, demanding, and impersonal. In a series of interviews found on the DVD of Eyes Wide Shut, a teary-eyed Tom
STANLEY KUBRICK ON THE SET OF SPARTACUS
Cruise remembers Kubrick with great affection; Nicole Kidman shares his sentiments. Shelley Winters, when asked what she thought of him, answered: “A gift.” Shelley Duvall, who played Wendy in The Shining, had a rocky relationship with Kubrick, but said in retrospect that it was a great experience that made her smarter—though she’d never want to do it again. Malcolm McDowell acknowledged in retrospect that some of his statements about Kubrick were “unfair” and were a “cry out” to Kubrick to reconnect with him. Childwickbury Manor, Harpenden Film director Stanley Kubrick bought Childwickbury Manor in 1978. The Manor is located St Albans and Harpenden. Previous owners were the Lomax family who bought the house in 1666 and who lived there until 1854 when Joshua Lomax sold it to Henry Hayman Toulmin, a wealthy ship owner and High Sheriff of Hertfordshire and mayor of St Albans. Toulmin left the property to Sir John Blundell Maple around 20 years later. Toulmin’s granddaughter, the author Mary Carbery, was born at the house. Sir John Blundell Maple bred and raced Thoroughbreds and built Childwick Bury Stud into a very successful horse breeding operation. Another prominent racehorse owner, Jack B. Joel, bought the estate including the stud farm farm in 1906. On his death in 1940, his son Jim Joel took over the operation. He too became a successful racehorse owner and breeder and maintained the property until 1978 when the stud and the manor were sold separately. It was advertised thus: “The Manor House, mainly 18th century has 12 Reception Rooms, 18 Bed and Dressing Rooms, 11 Staff Bedrooms, and 10 Bathrooms. Immaculate Timbered Grounds. Walled Garden. Courtyard with Garaging and Flat. Estate Office. Victorian
Dairy House with about 19 Acres. Two Coach House Cottages with Magnificent Stable Yard with Paddock and Woodland 16 Acres. Cheapside and Shafford Farms, 2 Well Equipped Corn and Stock Farms with about 724 Acres. 146 Acres of Timbered Parkland, 37 Acres of Railed Paddock and 104 Acres of valuable Commercial Timber”. In addition there were “18 Attractive Houses and Cottages, some with Paddocks. Old Mill and other Buildings for conversion, Stud Buildings, 30 Loose Boxes, Potential Riding School, and fishing in River Ver and Mill Race. Total 1,100 Acres” The stud was sold to the Marquesa de Moratella. He used the estate as both a home and a nerve centre for his film productions. He lived there until his death in 1999 and is interred on its grounds. His widow, Christiane Kubrick, still lives in the manor house. Feature Films Kubrick made only thirteen feature films in his life. His oeuvre was comparatively low in number, considering the output of his contemporaries such as John Ford or Federico Fellini, due to his methodical and meticulous dedication to every aspect of film production. A number of his films are recognized as seminal classics within their genre. Year Title 1953 Fear and Desire 1955 Killer’s Kiss 1956 The Killing 1960 Spartacus 1962 Lolita 1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey 1971 A Clockwork Orange 1975 Barry Lyndon 1980 The Shining 1987 Full Metal Jacket 1999 Eyes Wide Shut march2011 17