The Guy Green papers span the years 1948 to 1990 and encompass 6.5 linear feet of papers. The collection consists of production files (produced and unproduced) and subject files documenting Green’s work as a cinematographer, screenwriter, and director of film. There is nothing on his work directing for television later in his career.

The bulk of the collection comes from the production files (produced), which contains material for nearly two dozen titles from Green’s five-decade career. Much of it covers Green’s work as a director. The best represented titles in the collection are DESERT PATROL (1958), THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE (1977), JACQUELINE SUSANN'S ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH (1975), and LUTHER (1974), which all include annotated scripts, correspondence, and a small amount of production material. Of interest are letters from Roddy McDowall regarding a role in THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE as well as a handwritten journal by Green kept during the film’s production, and correspondence from Howard W. Koch, Kirk Douglas, and David Janssen, all regarding JACQUELINE SUSANN'S ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH. For Green’s best-known film, A PATCH OF BLUE (1965), which he wrote and directed, there is a heavily annotated script, correspondence, including a letter to Sidney Poitier, and production material. Throughout the series there are Green’s annotated scripts from several notable screenwriters, including Marguerite Roberts’ revised final draft for THE DIAMOND HEAD (1963), Julius Epstein’s screenplays for JACQUELINE SUSANN'S ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH and LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962), several of Edward Anhalt’s drafts for LUTHER, and John Fowles’ screenplay adaptation of his own novel for THE MAGUS (1968). Apart from scripts and programs for GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946) and OLIVER TWIST (1948), there is nothing on Green’s work as a camera operator or cinematographer for David Lean. A script for CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951) and a script and program for THE WAY AHEAD (1944) are the only other material on his work as a cinematographer. Also notable is material on THE LADY VANISHES (1979), released without Green’s involvement, including correspondence and a screenplay by Brian Hayles.

The production files (unproduced) consist almost entirely of script material for nine projects ranging from 1955 to 1990. Of interest is material on CHRISTY, one of many films cancelled during Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s extensive restructuring of 1969, including Isobel Lennart’s screenplay adaptation of the best-selling novel, annotated by Green. There is material for a film adaptation of Franz Werfel’s THE FORTY DAYS OF MUSA DAGH, including a screenplay by Green and Neil Paterson, and correspondence regarding the potential casting of Omar Sharif. There are also numerous drafts of an adaptation of JOHN BROWN’S BODY by Stewart Stern. The subject files are the smallest series in the collection and primarily consist of correspondence. There are numerous letters from Philip Gersh, as Green’s representative at the Jaffe Agency, and several letters from Pandro S. Berman during his time at MGM.

Guy Green was born in Frome, Somerset, England in 1913. As a child he would often spend hours in the theater watching silent films and when his school acquired a film projector, he learned how to run it. At the age of 16 he found work as an assistant projectionist for the Commercial Maritime Film Service, projecting films on passenger liners. Upon returning to London, he started a portrait studio in Soho with a friend. By the age of twenty he was working as a clapper boy for Sound City studios in Shepperton and quickly worked his way up to camera operator. He went on to be a camera operator for such studios as Two Cities Films, Elstree, and Welwyn Studios, among others. His earliest notable credits came while working as operator under cinematographer Ronald Neame, with whom he worked on Michael Powell’s ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING (1942), edited by David Lean. Green became friendly with Lean and again worked as operator for Neame on Lean’s first two films as director: IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942), co-directed with Noel Coward, and THIS HAPPY BREED (1944).
Amid this work, Green earned his first credit as a cinematographer with ESCAPE TO DANGER (1943). He was next hired as cinematographer for THE WAY AHEAD (1944), after Lean recommended Green to the film’s director, Carol Reed. Green then returned to working for Lean as cinematographer for GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946), and over the next several years shot OLIVER TWIST (1948), ONE WOMAN’S STORY (1949), and MADELEINE (1950) for the filmmaker. For his work on GREAT EXPECTATIONS, he received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White). In 1947 he was among the 55 founding members of the British Society of Cinematographers, a group that included such cinematographers as Jack Cardiff, Douglas Slocombe, Harry Waxman, and Freddie Young. He also served as cinematographer for Ronald Neame’s directorial debut, TAKE MY LIFE (1947), photographed his first technicolor film, BLANCHE FURY (1948), and shot two films for Walt Disney Productions, THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD (1952) and ROB ROY THE HIGHLAND ROGUE (1954).

Green’s final film as a cinematographer was I AM A CAMERA (1955), though he had already begun transitioning into directing with RIVER BEAT (1954) the previous year. His first several films as director, including POSTMARK FOR DANGER (1955), which he also adapted, and TEARS FOR SIMON (1956), were, like RIVER BEAT, in the thriller genre. While directing the war film DESERT PATROL (1958), he befriended the film’s lead actors, Richard Attenborough and Michael Craig. Two years later, Green directed Attenborough and Craig in THE ANGRY SILENCE (1960), the first film produced by Beaver Films, Attenborough’s production company with Bryan Forbes. Around this time, Green joined Attenborough and Forbes in investing in Allied Artists, a British production company that had been established in 1959 by Basil Deardon, Michael Relph, and Jack Hawkins, among others. The short-lived company went on to produce such films as WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1961), VICTIM (1961), and SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON (1964), though none of Green’s subsequent films were produced by the company. He directed the drama THE MARK (1961) before moving to Los Angeles in the early 1960s.

Green’s work after his move to the United States was varied. His first two films, LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962) and DIAMOND HEAD (1963), were big-budget romantic dramas shot on location in Italy and Hawaii respectively. He then found himself in the middle of the troubled production of 55 DAYS IN PEKING (1963) when he briefly assumed directing duties for an ailing Nicholas Ray. Green fared better with his next film, A PATCH OF BLUE (1965), a drama about the friendship between a black man and a blind white woman. In addition to directing, Green co-produced the film and wrote the screenplay, adapted from a novel by Elizabeth Kata, and he considered the film the greatest accomplishment of his career. It was a critical and a commercial success and earned five Academy Award nominations, with Shelley Winters receiving the award for Best Supporting Actress. However, following this triumph, Green only directed six more feature films, with none coming near the success of A PATCH OF BLUE. His remaining credits include the mystery THE MAGUS (1968), adapted from John Fowles’ novel; LUTHER (1974), based on John Osborne’s play about the life of Martin Luther, and the melodrama JACQUELINE SUSANN'S ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH (1975). For the remainder of his career, he directed made for television movies, his final one being STRONG MEDICINE (1987), adapted from Arthur Hailey’s novel of the same name. In 2002, Green received a lifetime achievement award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and in 2004 the British government named him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his career in film. Green died in 2005.