Tristram Powell

{{Infobox person

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Tristram Roger Dymoke Powell

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1940|04|25}}

| birth_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2024|03|01|1940|04|25}}

| death_place =

| occupation = Director, writer, producer

| yearsactive = 1964–2024

| spouse = Virginia Lucas

| children = Georgia Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort

| parents = Anthony Powell
Lady Violet Pakenham

}}

Tristram Roger Dymoke Powell'Powell of The Chantry' pedigree, Burke's Peerage website (25 April 1940 – 1 March 2024) was an English television and film director, producer and screenwriter. His credits included American Friends, episodes of series five and six of Foyle's War, and adaptations of the novels The Ghost Writer{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GexcAAAAIBAJ&pg=1174,1761161&dq=tristram-powell&hl=en|title=Playhouse Off To Promising Start . |date=16 January 1984|work=Record-Journal|accessdate=20 December 2010}} and Falling.

Life and career

Tristram Powell was born in Oxford, the elder son of the novelist Anthony Powell and Lady Violet Powell (née Pakenham). His godfather was Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, the last squire of Felbrigg Hall and a noted biographer.{{cite journal|last1=Jay|first1=Mike|title=Who Were the Dedicatees of Powell's Works?|journal=Anthony Powell Society Newsletter|date=Spring 2013|issue=50|page=10|url=http://www.anthonypowell.org.uk/reflib/nl50.pdf|accessdate=27 July 2017}} He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Oxford.

Powell's father died in 2000, and he has recounted the story of his conversing with the doctor in attendance, who was also surnamed Powell, about his ancestry.{{cite web|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/thepassingofpowell|title=The passing of Powell|author=Ferdinand Mount|author-link=Ferdinand Mount|date=June 2000|website=Prospect magazine|access-date=14 May 2018}} His mother, Lady Violet, died in 2002.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1381467/Lady-Violet-Powell.html|title=Lady Violet Powell|date=15 January 2002|website=The Telegraph|access-date=14 May 2018}}

Powell objected to the National Trust's 2017 short film about his godfather, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer of Felbrigg Hall, in which the latter's private life as a homosexual was revealed. Powell said that the Trust had made the revelation for "commercial reasons" in a way he considered "exaggerated and mean-spirited".{{cite news|last1=Duffy|first1=Nick|title=National Trust and Stephen Fry under fire for 'outing' historical figure|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/07/26/national-trust-and-stephen-fry-under-fire-for-outing-historical-figure/|accessdate=27 July 2017|publisher=Pink News|date=26 July 2017}}

Powell's daughter Georgia married Henry Somerset, 12th Duke of Beaufort, in 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/gloucestershires-most-eligible-bachelor-been-1554686|title=Gloucestershire's most eligible bachelor has been taken off the market|date=10 May 2018|author=Janet Hughes|website=GloucestershireLive|access-date=14 September 2018}}

Tristram Powell died of leukaemia on 1 March 2024, at the age of 83.{{cite news |title=Tristram Powell, brilliant director who flourished in the golden age of BBC arts coverage – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/03/08/tristram-powell-film-television-director-palin-freud/ |access-date=9 March 2024 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=8 March 2024}}{{cite news |title=Tristram Powell obituary: TV director who excelled at drama and arts documentaries |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/tristram-powell-obituary-tv-director-work-alan-bennett-8rg752bch |access-date=16 May 2024 |work=The Times |date=16 May 2024}}