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The lawyer who won a Bafta

Screenwriter Paul A. Mendelson started out practicing law - then he began working on a script for TV that changed everything

October 9, 2018 08:56
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ByFrancine White, Francine White

2 min read

There must be an inevitability about having a career in the arts if your father was the UK MD for Walt Disney. “Well,” says Paul A Mendelson, “I was the first person ever to have a Zorro sword! Our house was always full of Disney toys and I still have the studio pressing of Mary Poppins. ” Mendelson’s father, Monty, was the Disney mogul.

Yet, it took screenwriter and author Mendelson, now 67, a while to find his true calling. A first in law from Cambridge led him to run a family law practice. Disenchanted, he went into advertising. “It was those glory years when you had people like Alan Parker and Nicholas Roeg working in the business.” Then he began working on a script for TV about an older man marrying a younger woman; “I was still working so I would write anywhere I could, usually in the loo,” says Mendelson. The script became May to December, the Bafta nominated sitcom starring Anton Rogers and Lesley Dunlop, which ran for six series.

He recalls the filming of the first episode which was done in front of a live audience: “After the recording, everyone was elated, and the director was thrilled but perplexed. He said: ‘Everyone loved it and were laughing except one little lady at the front who was crying.’ That was my mum, Yetta, tears of joy!”

His father went to watch a recording and promised his son he would keep a low profile — “which meant him going around introducing himself to everyone and later giving the cast tips on their performances!”