Ray Austin (director)

{{Infobox person

| name = Ray Austin

| image = Ray Austin (director).jpg

| caption = Austin in The Saint, 1963

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1932|12|05}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2023|05|17|1932|12|05}}

| death_place = Virginia, U.S.

| occupation = {{plainlist|

Television and film director
Television writer and producer
Crime novelist

}}

| years_active = 1955–2023

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Yasuko Nagazumi|1976|1983|end=div}}
{{marriage|Wendy DeVere Knight-Wilton|1984}}

}}

| website = {{URL|http://www.raymondaustin.com}}

}}

Raymond Austin (5 December 1932 – 17 May 2023) was a British television and film director, television writer and producer, and stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Life and career

Austin was born in London on 5 December 1932.{{cite web |title=Raymond Austin: Director, Producer, Screenwriter and Novelist |url=http://www.raymondaustin.com |website=raymondaustin.com |access-date=18 May 2023}} He started his career as a stunt performer on such films as North by Northwest (1959) and Spartacus (1960). From 1965 to 1967 he served as stunt coordinator on 50 episodes of The Avengers. For The Champions he initially became involved as a second unit director, subsequently rising to the position of full director.

His work as a television director included episodes of The Avengers (1968), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969–70), Space: 1999 (1975–76), 4 episodes of Vega$,The New Avengers (1976–77), and V (1984). He directed 50 of the 88 episodes of the series Zorro, which was filmed in Madrid between 1989 and 1992 for the American ABC Family channel. He had also directed some made-for-TV films, including The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1983), and some feature films such as 1,000 Convicts and a Woman (1971), Virgin Witch (1972), and House of the Living Dead (1974).

The Guinness World Records states that "In 1965, Dame Diana Rigg (UK) became the first western actress to perform kung fu on Television when the combat choreographers Ray Austin (UK) and Chee Soo (UK/China) worked elements of the martial art into her fight scenes on The Avengers. Certificate presentation was done on The New Paul O'Grady Show."{{Cite web |title=First western actress to perform kung fu on television |url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-western-actress-to-perform-kung-fu-on-television/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009195654/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-western-actress-to-perform-kung-fu-on-television/ |archive-date=Oct 9, 2017 |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=guinnessworldrecords.com}}

Personal life and death

In 1976, Austin married actress Yasuko Nagazumi, who performed in some of the series he worked on, notably Space: 1999. His step-daughter, Miki Berenyi of the band Lush, describes her relationship with him in part 1 of her memoir Fingers Crossed.Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me from Success (2022). He later divorced Nagazumi and married British producer and writer Wendy DeVere Knight-Wilton in 1984; they later lived in Earlysville, Virginia, US.{{cite web |url=http://www.wendydevere-austin.com/index.htm |title= Wendy Devere-Austin |access-date=26 April 2019}}

Austin died at his home in Virginia on 17 May 2023, at the age of 90.