George Harrison's status as an ex-Beatle overshadowed his role as one of Britain's mosst successful film producers of the 1980s, when the British industry often struggled to match its former glory.
In 1979 Harrison set up a film production company, Handmade Films, with his business manager Denis O'Brien, and scored an immediate hit with Monty Python's Life Of Brian. Successes followed through the '80s, including Time Bandits, Withnail And I and Mona Lisa.
The Pythons has been struggling to fund their film project about a Holy Land idiot mistaken for the Messiah when they approached Harrison in desparation. The ex-Beatle, a big Python fan, was delighted to invest in the film, on which he took an executive producer credit. It became a worldwide hit, it's popularity scarcely hindered by accusations of blasphemy from leading church figures. In its wake, Handmade became a significant presence in the UK film industry for a decade.
The Python film was not Harrison's first movie credit. Five years earlier he had produced the film Little Malcolm, a commercially unsuccessful adaptation of David Halliwell's play Little Malcolm And His Struggle Against The Eunuchs. He also took a producers credit on the Beatles 1967 television film, Magical Mysterical Tour, and in 1972 on the musical film Concert For Bangladesh.
After Life Of Brian, Handmade backed the 1981 fantasy Time Bandits, a notable early feature for former Python cartoonist Terry Gilliam. Four flops followed - Privates On Parade, The Missionary, Bullshot and Water (with Michael Caine) - but the company's fortune's improved in 1985 with the Alan Bennet scripted comedy, A Private Function, starring Maggie Smith and former Python Michael Palin. The folllowing year came Mona Lisa, a critical and commercial hit for Irish director Neil Jordan that netted Bob Hoskins (co-starring with Caine) a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award and an Academy Award nomination for playing a washed up gangster.
In 1987 Smith won a BAFTA in Handmade's The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne. In the same year, writer-director Bruce Robinson's black comedy Withnail And I attracted a devoted cult following and established successful film and TV careers for its young stars Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann.
Before 1985, Harrison took a more hands on role as producer on three Handmade flops, but afterwards confined his role to being executive producer, presiding over several failures as well as hits.
The bombs included the Madonna and Sean Penn vehicle Shanghai Surprise. "Stars," said Harrison of the on-set tantrums of its lead actors. "I don't like people who think they're big shots."
Nuns On The Run, a cross-dressing comedy, was a modest hit in 1990 and Harrison's last success. A flop the same year, Cold Dog Soup, was his final film.