The film production executive Chris Collins, who has died of cancer aged 52, believed passionately in cinema as an art form as well as an entertainment category. And he viewed public service – in which he toiled for much of his career – as a rare privilege. He was a pragmatic problem solver who won the respect of collaborators and peers across the British film industry, and his was a highly credible voice that had particular value when articulated in favour of investment in risky projects, as it often was. He was a creative enabler who took his role seriously – while making himself the frequent target of his quiet, self-deprecating wit.
Chris was born in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, to John and Gill Collins, respectively a building maintenance supervisor and secretary, and attended North Crawley Church of England primary school and Ousedale comprehensive. When I first met him in the summer of 1983, after he had just graduated in physics from King’s College London, his initial appeal to a starstruck teenager was that he was the coolest, smartest and most handsome man I’d ever met. I was not wholly surprised, catching up with him again a decade later, to find that he was now a budding film producer.
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