Shooting Stars at Ealing Studios

Audrey Hepburn features in new photo exhibition at Gunnersbury Park


Audrey Hepburn, in the 1951 Ealing Studios comedy, The Lavender Hill Mob. all images by kind permission of STUDIOCANAL

The glory days of Ealing Studios and some of the many stars who once frequented them are available to view in a new free photo exhibition hosted by Gunnersbury Park Museum.

It's the work of stills photographer Roy Gough whose archive was donated to the museum, after the death of his wife, Beryl Booth in 2016.


Roy Gough image permission Studio Canal

Roy began his career in 1943 at the Studios - the oldest continuously working film facility in the world - where he photographed some of the 20th Century’s biggest stars.


Belinda Lee at Ealing Studios image with permission Studio Canal

Both long-time Ealing residents, Roy and Beryl worked for decades in film and television - Roy as a Stills Photographer and Beryl as a Continuity Girl. The pair eventually met on the set of Nowhere to Go in 1958. After marrying they went into business together, working on several cult tv shows, such as The Saint and The Prisoner.

A Stills Photographer was in charge of getting a record of film sets, studio shoots or portraits that could be used to create the press and publicity for up-and-coming films. Many of the photographs that Roy Gough took at Ealing Studios were included on film posters, billboards, and other promotional materials.

In 2020, Gunnersbury Park Museum was granted funding to work with this unique and valuable collection. Throughout the project the museum has worked to repackage, digitise and catalogue the photographs and make them available online.

This exhibition showcases some favourites from the 2000+ prints we hold in Gunnersbury Park Museum’s Archive and explores Roy Gough’s career at Ealing Studios and beyond.

The free outdoor exhibition is open all week from 7am - dusk and located near Gunnersbury’s Round Pond.

Annemarie Flanagan

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20 April 2021