The life and career of Sir Sydney Samuelson CBE, who has died aged 97, represent a microcosm of the British film industry over more than 50 years. He was instrumental in making the UK a worldwide leader in film and television production, rivalling Hollywood.

Having left school at 14 to work as the “rewind boy” in a cinema projection booth, he became a cinematographer and co-founder, with his brothers David and Michael, of the Samuelson Group, the largest film equipment servicing company in the world.

He became the government’s first British Film Commissioner and leader of Bafta and many other industry organisations and charities.

In 1985, he received Bafta’s Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Film; in 1993 a Bafta Fellowship for his contribution to the film and television industry and in 1997 a British Film Institute Fellowship, among many other industry awards. In 1978, he was awarded a CBE, followed by a knighthood in 1995.

He will also be remembered by many he mentored and inspired in the industry.

The second of four sons of the pioneering silent film director George “Bertie” Samuelson and Marjorie Vint, who ran a Sussex drapery and starred in her husband’s silent films, his grandparents came to Britain as refugees from eastern Europe, and he was proud of his Jewish heritage.

A man of determination, professionalism, humility and good humour, at heart he remained a film technician and a proud lifelong member of Bectu, the technicians’ union. He regularly spotted outstanding individuals and tried to elevate their careers.

Sir Sydney entered the film business in 1939 aged 14 in the projection box of the Luxor Cinema in Lancing, West Sussex, before working as a relief operator in several Midlands ABC cinemas. He then trained as a film editor with Gaumont British Newsreel in London.

In 1943 he signed up as a flight navigator for the RAF, and in 1947 joined the film unit of the British Colonial Office as a trainee cameraman. He married Doris Magen in 1949.

Sydney worked on many BBC and ITV shows and, as part of a camera team recording the coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1953, he was responsible for the famous shot of Queen Elizabeth being crowned, repairing the broken spring in his camera just in time.

In 1954 Sydney purchased a clockwork Newman Sinclair film camera, and began renting out equipment to other professionals. He and Doris formed Samuelson Film Service, later joined by his brothers. “Sammies” as the company became known, made available the highest quality equipment with 24-hour complete service. It enabled international films to shoot worldwide for the first time and galvanised the UK production industry. It supported the fledgling ITV network and its boom in commercials.

A prolific company with international branches, it worked on major films, including Doctor Zhivago, 13 James Bond films, Gandhi, A Man for All Seasons, Fiddler on the Roof, 2001: A
Space Odyssey and Amadeus.

As chairman and a founder trustee for Bafta, he was a driving force in the Cinema and Television Veterans association, expanding its charitable arm and developing the annual Royal Film Performance, as well as producing the successful Filmharmonic concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

Following Downing Street talks with prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Richard Attenborough, Sir Sydney was appointed the first British Film Commissioner in 1991, and campaigned to promote the UK as the leading film production destination.
Tributes to his work came from the late Lord Attenborough, and Lords Puttnam and Grade, the latter describing him as “a beacon of probity, generosity and common sense”.

Sir Sydney officially retired in 1997 but was determined to give back more to the industry than he took out. He helped many professional organisations and charities in his field and beyond, including the Young Person’s Concert Foundation, the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women and UK Friends of Akim.

He completed the London Marathon in 1982 to support the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund and Akim. Lady Samuelson, his wife of 73 years, died last year. He is survived by his sons Peter, Jonathan and Marc, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Sir Sydney Samuelson: born December 7, 1925. Died December 14, 2022.