Kip Gowans, Prolific Assistant Director and Producer
After decades of credits on prestigious feature films, Gowans produced made-for-television movies starring his wife, actress Lee Remick.
William “Kip” Gowans, an assistant director who later became a producer of television movies, died of natural causes March 11, 2011, outside the village of Mouans-Sartoux in the south of France. He was 80.
Gowans, a native of Great Britain, began his career as third assistant director on the 1952 feature film The Story of Robin Hood, followed by second assistant director duties on the 1954 release Doctor in the House, which was nominated for several BAFTA awards.
He went on to log dozens of assistant directing credits on feature films throughout the 1960s and ’70s, including Nine Hours to Rama, The V.I.P.s, The Yellow Rolls Royce, Darling, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Lion in Winter, Downhill Racer, Sleuth, Rollerball and The Man Who Fell to Earth.
His first American credit came in 1962 on the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, followed by Ghost Squad.
In the 1980s he produced the made-for-TV movies The Women’s Room, The Letter, Rearview and Of Pure Blood, all of which starred his second wife, actress Lee Remick. He had previously been married to British actress Valerie Gearon.
Remick died in 1991. He is survived by two daughters and four grandchildren.