Megarry Bill

Bill Megarry

Born on July 19th 1908, in Northern Ireland, Megarry arrived in London in 1933 and fairly shortly afterwards joined the Communist Party. He was prominent in the Kino group of left-wing film makers, making a meagre living by touring Britain with radical films for public meetings. Kino was especially active in aid to Spain activities. He became an outstanding film editor, especially of documentaries.

In 1939, he joined the ambulance service, working through the blitz. In 1941, he returned to full-time film making as an editor with the Soviet Film Agency, where he worked with Ivor Montagu (see separate entry).

After the war he worked on short government information films and then moved into more mainstream work. He was a life-long member and for a time elected shop steward of the film union ACTT, later merged into BECTU. Megarry left the Communist Party in the 1950s and died on July 19th 1998 aged 90.

Source: Guardian 13th August 1998