{{Short description|British film producer (1916–1988)}} {{Use British English|date=June 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox person |name = Raymond Stross |image = |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|05|22|df=y}} |birth_place = Leeds, England |death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|07|31|1916|05|22|df=y}} |death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |years_active = |occupation = Film producer |spouse = {{marriage|Anne Heywood|1960}} |children = }}
'''Raymond Stross''' (22 May 1916 – 31 July 1988) was a British film producer.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090115220752/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/12659 BFI.org]</ref><ref name=nyt-obituary>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/04/obituaries/raymond-stross-producer-72.html |title=Raymond Stross, Producer, 72 |work=New York Times|date=4 August 1988 }}</ref> His work was notable in part for its relatively frank sexual content and his long professional association with wife actor Anne Heywood.<ref name="anne">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=4 May 2025|access-date=4 May 2025|title=Not Quite Movie Stars: Anne Heywood|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/not-quite-movie-stars-anne-heywood}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Stross was born on 22 May 1916 in Leeds. He was educated at Roynd Hay High School and Abingdon School from 1929 until 1933 and was a member of the second XV rugby team.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1929_December_V006_N028.pdf#page=3|title=Salvete|publisher=The Abingdonian}}</ref>
== Film == Stross left school at age sixteen at went to work at Shepperton Studios. He started Sturt Stross Film Productions in 1937 becoming the second youngest director-producer in the country at the time. His company's first production was a film called ''The Show's the Thing''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1937_Easter_V007_N019.pdf#page=9|title=OA Notes Easter 1937|publisher=The Abingdonian}}</ref> He also directed the 1937 film ''The Reverse Be My Lot''.
He then went to work for various distributors and became branch manager in Northern Ireland for Columbia pictures. Stross bought a cimema in Belfast and bought up a chain. Then he bought another chain at Norwich. In 1948 Stross travelled to the US to increase his knowledge and prepare for the move into production.<ref name="stross">{{cite news|newspaper=The Kensington News and West London Times|date=20 March 1953|page=3|title=The producer - Raymond Stross}}</ref>
Stross' first film as producer was the 1951 production of ''Hell is Sold Out'', which included Richard Attenborough in his first comedy role.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000669/19501123/119/0004 |title=Lom as Lover |work=Birmingham Daily Gazette |date=23 November 1950 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=13 May 2025}}</ref><ref name=nyt-obituary/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1951_January_V009_N010.pdf#page=39|title=OA Notes January 1951|publisher=The Abingdonian}}</ref> He soon became an "international" producer, frequently using American stars in his movies in order to make them more appealing to the world market.<ref name="stross"/>
Ray Stiles, bassist with Mud and The Hollies, called himself Stross in tribute.
Stross had a huge box office success with ''The Fox'' (1967).<ref name="zec">{{cite news|first=Donald|last=Zec|newspaper=Daily Mirror|date=18 July 1968|page=9|title=Heywood - after the Fox}}</ref>
==Personal life== Stross was married to an American with whom he had a daughter, Laraine. He then married actress Clare Corey-James in March 1955 and attend the premiere of ''As Long as They's Happy'' that night.<ref>{{cite news|title=Film producer marries|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=10 March 1955|page=8}}</ref>
In July 1959 Stross announced he would marry actress Anne Heywood, who he met making ''A Terrible Beauty''. "It was love at first sight," said Heywood. Stross apparently proposed the day after they met. He was still married to Corey-James who was by then a literary agent.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Herald|date=29 July 1959|page=2|title=First-love Anne must wait for her man}}</ref> He cited David Deutsch as a co-respondent in the divorce case.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Record|date=26 September 1959|page=6|title=Film boss seeking a divorce}}</ref> Stross was granted a divorce on account of adultery between Deutsch and his second wife.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Grimsby Evening Telegraph|date=30 October 1959|page=3|title=Decree for film man}}</ref> Corey-James later announced she would marry Deutsch.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=4 January 1960|page=3|title=Raymond Stross' ex-wife plans to marry again}}</ref>
Stross and Heywood married on 12 February 1960<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=March 1960|page=8|title=Tea with Anne....}}</ref> and they had a son and daughter.<ref name=nyt-obituary/> He died in 1988 at his home in Beverly Hills, California.<ref name=nyt-obituary/>
==Selected filmography== *''The Show's the Thing'' (1936) – director *''The Reverse Be My Lot'' (1937) – director *''Hell Is Sold Out'' (1951) – producer * ''The Tall Headlines'' (1952) – producer *''The Man Who Watched Trains Go By'' (1952) – producer *''Rough Shoot'' (1953) – producer *''Star of India'' (1954) – producer * ''As Long as They're Happy'' (1955) – producer * ''An Alligator Named Daisy'' (1955) – producer * ''Jumping for Joy'' (1956) – producer *''A Touch of the Sun'' (1956) – producer * ''The Flesh Is Weak'' (1957) – producer *''A Question of Adultery'' (1958) – producer * ''The Angry Hills'' (1959) – producer *''A Terrible Beauty'' (1960) – producer *''The Mark'' (1961) – producer * ''The Brain'' (1962) – producer * ''The Very Edge'' (1963) – producer * ''The Leather Boys'' (1964) – producer * ''Ninety Degrees in the Shade'' (1965) – producer * ''The Fox'' (1967) – producer * ''Midas Run'' (1969) – producer * ''I Want What I Want'' (1972) – producer * ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' (1979) – producer
==See also== * List of Old Abingdonians
==References== <references/>
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0835105}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stross, Raymond}} Category:1916 births Category:1988 deaths Category:British film directors Category:British film producers Category:People educated at Abingdon School