Lew Grade

Birthday: 12/25/1906
Deathday: 12/14/1998
Place of birth: Tokmak, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire
Fame for: Production
Also known as: Lord Lew Grace, Sir Lew Grade, Lord Grade, Lou Grade, Louis Winogradsky, Baron Grade, Baron Lew Grade, Lev Winogradsky

Biography

Lew Grade, Baron Grade, OStJ (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a Russian-born British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 when he founded the Incorporated Television Company (ITC; commonly known as ITC Entertainment) to distribute programmes, and following the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood decided to focus on bringing them to the American market. Grade had some success in this field with such series as Gerry Anderson's many Supermarionation series such as Thunderbirds, Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner, and Jim Henson's The Muppet Show. Later, Grade invested in feature film production, but several expensive box-office failures caused him to lose control of ITC, and ultimately resulted in the disestablishment of ATV after it lost its ITV franchise. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lew Grade, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.