Person    | Male  Born 7/9/1855  Died 5/5/1921

William Friese-Greene

Categories: Cinema

Photographer, inventor and pioneer of cinematography. Born Bristol as William Edward Green. Married the Swiss Helena Friese in 1874 and added her name to his. (It's not clear where the extra "e" came from.) His name is sometimes given without the hyphen.

One of the first to work (mainly in Brighton) on the idea of moving images, he lodged various patents but none of his methods worked well enough to keep him out of the bankruptcy courts nor for the world to credit him as the inventor of cinema.

Died at a cinema industry meeting in the Connaught Rooms and buried at Highgate Cemetery with a grave monument by Lutyens (unexpectedly traditionally Gothic in style), on which he is described as "the inventor of kinematography". The Gaumont Graphic newsreel (available on the British Pathe website) captured Friese-Greene’s funeral procession arriving at the cemetery, the coffin topped by a full size mock-up of a film projector pointing at a screen on which are the words, picked out in flowers, “The End”.

In 1951 a biopic, The Magic Box, directed by John Boulting, was produced for the Festival of Britain.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
William Friese-Greene

Commemorated ati

Tricycle Cinema opening

The Tricycle Cinema was opened by Emma Thompson on 12th November 1998. Bringi...

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William Friese-Greene

W. Friese-Greene

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Other Subjects

British Film Institute

British Film Institute

In 1996 the BFI erected 126 plaques across Britain to commemorate the centenary of cinema. See the pdf.

Group, Cinema, Museums / Libraries

15 memorials
Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell

Actor Born Dublin.  Played the 'dirty old man' in the TV series 'Steptoe and Son' with Harry H. Corbett and Paul McCartney's granddad in 'A hard day's night'.  Died in Westminster.

Person, Cinema, Humour, TV & Radio, Ireland

1 memorial
Rotherhithe Picture Research Library

Rotherhithe Picture Research Library

An educational charity, opened as part of Sands Films Studio, and situated in the same Grade II listed building. The library is home to thousands of old photographs, postcards and magazines. Pictur...

Building, Cinema, Museums / Libraries

1 memorial
Dame Judi Dench, CH

Dame Judi Dench, CH

Actor. Born Judith Olivia Dench in Heworth, York. Made her stage debut with the Old Vic company in 1957. Over the decades, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare and the National Theatre comp...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous, Theatre, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Sir Ian Mckellen

Sir Ian Mckellen

Born Burnley, Lancashire. Versatile stage and film actor with a repertoire ranging from the classics through science fiction films and pantomime to Coronation Street. He ‘came out’ in 1988 and ha...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous, Theatre

4 memorials