Person1932
Raymond Austin was a British television and film director, television writer and producer, and stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United State…
Read and enrich the people, organizations and context referenced in case files.
Explore the cases that include this wiki entry.
No case files include this entry yet.
Investigate this subjectRaymond Austin (5 December 1932 – 17 May 2023) was a British television and film director, television writer and producer, and stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Raymond Austin was a British television and film director, television writer and producer, and stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Raymond Austin (5 December 1932 – 17 May 2023) was a British television and film director, television writer and producer, and stunt performer and actor who worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Austin was born in London on 5 December 1932. He started his career as a stunt performer on such films as North by Northwest (1959) and Spartacus (1960). From 1965 to 1967 he served as stunt coordinator on 50 episodes of The Avengers. For The Champions he initially became involved as a second unit director, subsequently rising to the position of full director.
His work as a television director included episodes of The Avengers (1968), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969–70), Space: 1999 (1975–76), four episodes of Vega$,The New Avengers (1976–77), and V (1984). He directed 50 of the 88 episodes of the series Zorro, which was filmed in Madrid between 1989 and 1992 for the American ABC Family channel. He had also directed some made-for-TV films, including The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1983), and some feature films such as 1,000 Convicts and a Woman (1971), Virgin Witch (1972), and House of the Living Dead (1974).
The Guinness World Records states that "In 1965, Dame Diana Rigg (UK) became the first western actress to perform kung fu on Television when the combat choreographers Ray Austin (UK) and Chee Soo (UK/China) worked elements of the martial art into her fight scenes on The Avengers. Certificate presentation was done on The New Paul O'Grady Show."
In 1976, Austin married actress Yasuko Nagazumi, who performed in some of the series he worked on, notably Space: 1999. His step-daughter, Miki Berenyi of the band Lush, describes her relationship with him in part 1 of her memoir Fingers Crossed. He later divorced Nagazumi and married British producer and writer Wendy DeVere Knight-Wilton in 1984; they later lived in Earlysville, Virginia, US.
Austin died at his home in Virginia on 17 May 2023, at the age of 90.
Source: Ray Austin (director) (CC BY-SA)
We label verified structured information, user opinions, and AI-discovered relationships separately.
Be the first to comment.
