{{Short description|Canadian producer and director}} {{Infobox person | name = |image = Budge.gif |alt = |caption = Crawley, c. 1950 |birth_name = Frank Radford Crawley |birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|11|14}} |birth_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|5|13|1911|11|14}} |death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada |other_names = "Budge" Crawley |occupation = Film producer |known_for = Filmmaking |spouse = Judith Crawley | children = 6 |awards = Order of Canada }}
'''Frank Radford "Budge" Crawley''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (November 14, 1911 – May 13, 1987) was a Canadian film producer, cinematographer and director.<ref>Wise 2015, p. 1954.</ref> Along with his wife Judith Crawley, he co-founded the production company Crawley Films in 1939.<ref name=":0">[https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/030001-1252-e.html "Judith (Rosemary) Sparks Crawley."] ''Library and Archives Canada''. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.</ref>
Crawley is best known for producing the Academy Award-winning documentary ''The Man Who Skied Down Everest''. During his 40-year career, he produced hundreds of films. Film historian Peter Morris described Crawley as "the Godfather of Canadian film and Canada's answer to Sam Goldwyn."<ref>Morris 1984, p. 74.</ref> {{TOC limit|limit=2}}
==Early life== Frank Radford "Budge" Crawley was born November 14, 1911, in Ottawa, Ontario. His early interest in filmmaking was shared by his next-door neighbour, Judith Sparks. The pair married on October 1, 1938, beginning a long working relationship as a filmmaking team.<ref>McInnes 2004, p. 175.</ref><ref>[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/budge-crawley/ "Budge Crawley."]''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.</ref>
==Career== While on their honeymoon, Judith wrote the script and edited ''Île d'Orléans'' (1938), the first film she worked on with her husband.<ref name=":0" /> Crawley shot and directed the film that won the Hiram Percy Maxim Award from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for Best Amateur Film in 1939, making their collaboration the first Canadian film to receive this type of recognition.
Crawley was a pioneer in the creation of an independent Canadian film sector. Although he worked intermittently as an independent filmmaker on contract with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Crawley chose to work independently rather than with NFB or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.{{#tag:ref|His wife Judith Crawley also worked for the NFB as a freelancer.<ref>Khouri 2007, p. 116.</ref> |group=Note}}
Crawley was known for making avant-garde films with his wife Judith Crawley. Together they owned the Crawley Films company which produced numerous short films, feature films, television commercials, animated cartoons and other productions. The first Canadian Film Award (a precursor to the contemporary Canadian Screen Awards) in 1949 went to Crawley Films for ''The Loon's Necklace'' (1948), a film based on a Tsimshian legend.<ref name="Siegel"/>
After the Second World War, the company grew quickly and provided a great training ground for young Canadian filmmakers eager to launch film careers. At that time, the NFB was the only other major filmmaking body, until CBC television went live in 1952.<ref name="Siegel">Siegel. Lois. [http://www.siegelproductions.ca/filmfanatics/budgecrawley.htm "Frank Radford 'Budge' Crawley."] ''siegelproductions.ca''. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.</ref> During the 50 years that the company operated, from 1939 until its sale to Atkinson Film Arts in 1982, Crawley Films made thousands of films and received hundreds of film awards.<ref name="Siegel"/>
After separating from her husband in 1965, Judith Crawley founded another film production company with two of her children, Michal and Jennifer.<ref name=":1">[http://femfilm.ca/director_search.php?director=judith-crawley&lang=e/ "Judith Crawley."] ''Canadian Women Film Directors Database''. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.</ref>
==Awards and recognition== ''The Man Who Skied Down Everest'' won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, becoming the first Canadian-produced film to win an Oscar in this category.<ref>[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp;jsessionid=D5981CB175598B8B9FC0837A8A930B60?curTime=1461392828319 "The Man Who Skied down Everest."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194626/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp |date=2013-10-29 }} ''Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences''. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.</ref>
The Crawleys won several Canadian Film Awards and a Special Achievement Genie for Outstanding Contributions to the Canadian Film Industry in 1986.
In 1977, the City of Ottawa awarded Crawley the Key to the City.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wylie |first=John |date=November 5, 1977 |title=Crawley honored by board of trade |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ottawa-journal-crawley-honored-by-bo/137038499/ |work=Ottawa Journal |location=Ottawa, Ontario |page=3 |access-date=December 17, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
In 1980, Crawley was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "in recognition of a unique contribution to film in Canada".<ref>Rose 1998, pp. 219, 252.</ref>
The Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa premiered ''Budge: The One True Happiness of F. R. 'Budge' Crawley'' (2003), a one-hour documentary examining the career of the maverick Canadian film producer, Budge Crawley. The film is based in part on interviews contained in the Information Research Services (IRS) publication: ''Budge: F. R. Crawley and Crawley Films, 1939-1982''. Produced and directed by Michael Ostroff and written by Seaton Findlay, the Cine Metu video was developed in association with Bravo! Canada for broadcast.<ref>[https://www.telefilm.ca/en/catalogues/production/budge-one-true-happiness-f-r-budge-crawley "Budge: The One True Happiness of F. R. 'Budge' Crawley."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804121511/https://www.telefilm.ca/en/catalogues/production/budge-one-true-happiness-f-r-budge-crawley |date=2016-08-04 }} ''Telefilm'', 2003. Retrieved: April 23, 2016.</ref>
==Partial filmography== * 1938: ''Ile d'Orléans'' * 1942: ''Quebec – Path of Conquest'' * 1948: ''The Loon's Necklace'' * 1950: ''Newfoundland Scene'' * 1953: ''The Power Within'' * 1958: ''The Legend of the Raven'' * 1961: ''Tales of the Wizard of Oz'' (animated series for Videocraft-Rankin/Bass) * 1963: ''Amanita Pestilens'' * 1963: ''Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD)'' * 1964: ''The Luck of Ginger Coffey'' * 1964: ''Return to Oz (television special)'' (for Videocraft-Rankin/Bass) * 1966: ''1966 Marine Drive'' * 1967: ''The Entertainers'' * 1971: ''Hamlet'' (television) * 1972: ''The Rowdyman'' (executive producer) * 1973: ''August and July'' * 1975: ''The Man Who Skied Down Everest'' * 1975: ''Janis'' * 1982: ''Heartland Reggae''
==References==
===Notes=== {{Reflist|group=Note}}
===Citations=== {{Reflist|30em}}
===Bibliography=== {{Refbegin}} * Armatage, Kay, Kass Banning, Brenda Longfellow and Janine Marchessault, eds. ''Gendering the Nation: Canadian Women's Cinema''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-8020-4120-3}}. * Khouri, Malek. ''Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-46.'' Calgary, Alberta, Canada: University of Calgary Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-55238-199-1}}. * McInnes, Graham. ''One Man's Documentary: A Memoir of the Early Years of the National Film Board''. Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8875-5679-1}}. * Morris, Peter. ''The Film Companion''. Toronto, Ontario: Clarke, Irwin & Company, 1984. {{ISBN|978-0-7725-1505-6}}. * Rose Wade, Barbara. ''Budge: What Happened to Canada's King of Film''. Toronto: ECW Press, 1998. {{ISBN|1-55022-363-1}}. * Wise, Wyndham. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oveMBgAAQBAJ ''Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film''.] Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-4426-5620-8}}. {{Refend}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091748/http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=153&navid=46 Northern Stars: Frank "Budge" Crawley] * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091748/http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=153&navid=46 |date=September 29, 2007 |title=Film Reference Library: F.R. Crawley }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130501195033/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/budge-crawley The Canadian Encyclopedia: Frank Radford Crawley] * {{IMDb name|id=0187008|name=F.R. Crawley}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, F.R.}} Category:1911 births Category:1987 deaths Category:Film producers from Ontario Category:Canadian cinema pioneers Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:Film directors from Ottawa Category:Producers of Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Category:Canadian film production company founders Category:Producers of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film