{{Short description|Canadian actor and writer}} <!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|Brandis on the cover of a Wilmington magazine{{deletable image-caption|Friday, 1 March 2013}} --> '''Jock Brandis''' is an author, film actor, film technician, inventor, and humanitarian. Brandis has received the 2006 ''Popular Mechanics'' Breakthrough Award for Innovation and the 2008 Purpose Prize, which he received in recognition for his work and experience.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a1386/4212850/|title=Peanut Power: Building A Better Sheller|date=2009-12-18|magazine=Popular Mechanics|access-date=2016-06-27}}</ref>
Brandis was born in the Netherlands and moved to Canada in his youth. He joined CUSO, a Canadian humanitarian group in his twenties and later got involved with other charitable organizations such as Oxfam. After returning to Canada Brandis began working in multiple films as a gaffer, cinematographer, and on lighting and special effects. If necessary, Brandis would use various odds and ends to create special cameras or lighting rigs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JO0OV7uffc8C&q=%22Peanuts%22+%22Brandis%22&pg=PT173|title=CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies, and T-Shaped People: Inside the World of Design Thinking and How It Can Spark Creativity and Innovati on|last=Berger|first=Warren|date=2010-12-28|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9781101478066|language=en}}</ref> Brandis would later state that his experience working with charitable organizations made it easier to create these items.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2009-01-01|title=A NUTTY INSPIRATION|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1650410991.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911193343/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1650410991.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-09-11|journal=Aging Today}}</ref> During the 70s Brandis and his wife, Suzanna, were the subjects of the documentary film ''The Salvage Prince'', which focused on their efforts to restore a historic tugboat.
In 2002 Brandis began working on a water treatment system for a small village in Mali. During this time he discovered that the village's women spent much of their time shelling peanuts by hand, a process that would often leave their hands bloody and sore.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130890701|title=How A Promise Led To Innovation: A Peanut Sheller|date=November 10, 2010|website=NPR|access-date=2016-06-27}}</ref> To alleviate their burden Brandis contacted Dr. Tim Williams of UGA, who informed him of a Bulgarian peanut shelling design. With the help of a friend, Brandis adapted the design, which went through several redesigns before he completed the Universal Nut Sheller.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/02/28/heroes.brandis/index.html?iref=newssearch|title=CNN Heroes: Peanut farmers get a big hand from simple device|website=CNN|access-date=2016-06-27}}</ref> Brandis's work on the sheller was later covered in the 2002 short documentary film ''Peanuts'' and in the 2007 book ''The Promise of Peanuts: A real-life fairy tale''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The promise of peanuts: a real-life fairy tale|last=Gwenyfar|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Trafford|isbn=9781425100858|location=Victoria, BC|oclc=213524391|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last1=Harbury|first1=Martin|title=Peanuts|date=2002-01-01|last2=Swing|author3=Bullfrog Films|author4=Bar Harbour Films inc.|first2=Catherine|publisher=Bullfrog Films|language=English|isbn=1560299746|oclc=52062937}}</ref>
In 2014 Brandis and author Gwenyfar Rohler finished work on a stage adaptation of the 1977 film ''Death Bed: The Bed That Eats,'' in which Brandis starred as a priest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://portcitydaily.com/2014/09/17/death-bed/|title=Best of the 'worst': Local writer gives new life to cult classic 'Death Bed'|last=Snow|first=Hillary|date=September 17, 2014|publisher=Port City Daily|access-date=2016-06-27|archive-date=2016-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609045853/http://portcitydaily.com/2014/09/17/death-bed/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2014/10/worst-movie-ever-death-bed-debuts-stage/|title=An interview with Gwenyfar Rohler, writer of Death Bed: The Bed That Eats|date=2014-10-25|website=Flickering Myth|language=en-US|access-date=2016-06-27}}</ref> Brandis also worked on the film's special effects and created the titular "Bed That Eats"''.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a29626/death-bed-worst-movie/|title=The Worst Movie That Time Forgot|date=2014-08-04|website=Esquire|access-date=2016-06-27}}</ref> The play covered both the film's plot and the making of the film.
== Books == *{{cite book|last1=Brandis|first1=Jock|title=The Ship's Cat|date=2000|publisher=Writers Club Press|location=San Jose, TX|isbn=9780595129973}}
== Filmography ==
=== As actor === * ''Death Bed: The Bed That Eats'' (1977, as Priest, also worked on special effects) * ''Scanners'' (1981, as Scanner in Attic) * ''Maximum Overdrive'' (1986, as Dump Truck Driver, uncredited)
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{wikinews|Jock Brandis: engineering the end of hunger}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0104680}} * [http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/pnuts.html Official website] for ''Peanuts'' * [http://filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=4622 A Review of Peanuts] * [http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/2629/1009178.html Article about the Jock and the Full Belly Project] at Peace Corps Online
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandis, Jock}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Appropriate technology advocates Category:Canadian cinematographers Category:Canadian male novelists Category:Canadian inventors Category:Canadian male film actors Category:People of the Nigerian Civil War Category:Dutch emigrants to Canada Category:21st-century Canadian novelists Category:21st-century Canadian male writers