Biography

Keith Hamshere started his entertainment career as an actor, working with Max Bygraves and the crazy gang, recording records and eventually starring in the title role as the world’s first ‘Oliver’ for the original Lionel Bart production of the musical.

From there, Keith went on to star in films alongside Hayley Mills, Maurice Chevalier, and George Sanders in the Disney production of ‘In Search Of The Castaways, as well as starring in Michael Winner’s first production ‘Play It Cool’.

After working his way through London’s photographic scene in the swinging 60s (working for Baron studios most notably) Keith was invited by unit photographer Johnny Jay to work on a new film directed by Stanley Kubrick, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.

Having become friendly with Kubrick, Keith was trusted to run a photographic department shooting large format images for animation and was sent to South Africa to shoot plates for the ‘Dawn Of Man’ sequence. The work produced on 2001 by Keith and the immensely talented crew still stands up with today’s modern CGI.

Having worked with Kubrick for over two years on ‘2001’, he went on to become established as a stills photographer and quickly became one of the worlds top stills men.

The 80s saw Keith work with Steven Spielberg on ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom’ as well as establishing close ties with Lucasfilm, Eon Productions and the Bond franchise with which he continued to work until his retirement.

His filmography is rather extraordinary and contains numerous films, most of which we are all familiar with including ‘Star Wars’, ‘Chaplin’, ‘The Mummy’, ‘Spy Game’, ‘Band of Brothers’, 'Young Winston', ‘The Battle of Britain’ and ‘Barry Lyndon’.

Keith has helped create some of the most iconic images and posters publicising some of the biggest movies ever made. If ever ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ was true, then it certainly is with Keith’s work. He is a legend of the business with much wisdom and great tales to share.

In his later career he very much believed in providing the client with the widest possible range of photographic content on set, ranging from traditional stills, specials to advertising and promotional imagery. He embraced new technology and was one of the first unit photographers to adapt to the digital age.

Keith pioneered in Virtual Reality having developed and produced his own company that made 360-degree virtual movie sets which provided amazing interactive content for film studios.

It is undeniable that Keith's talent has brought joy to millions around the world. His work will outlive all of us and be a true testament to the film industry in the 21st century.

Since 2015 Keith, in his own words, is

“Enjoying retirement and reflecting on the wonderful producers, directors, casts and crews that have made my career possible and so enjoyable.

Thank you”