Nestor Montague Berman, known professionally as Monty Berman, was a renowned producer of popular action series for ITC in the 1960s and early 1970s. Born to Jewish parents in the poor Whitechapel district of London, Berman's early life was marked by a strong educational foundation at the University College School.
He began his career in the film industry as a camera assistant at the Twickenham Studio in 1922, eventually becoming a fully-fledged cinematographer with ABPC in 1935. However, his work during this period was limited, with only two film assignments prior to the outbreak of World War II.
During the war, Berman served in North Africa, Italy, and Germany with the Eighth Army Film and Photographic Unit, where he formed a lasting friendship with fellow cameraman and amateur filmmaker Robert S. Baker. After the war, Berman and Baker established a production company, Tempean Films, in 1948.
Throughout the 1950s, Berman worked as a producer and cinematographer on over thirty low-budget films, often shot on location in and around London, and featuring American stars in the twilight of their careers. Many of these early efforts were unremarkable dramas or sub-film noir crime stories, but Berman's partnership with Baker and writer Jimmy Sangster yielded several well-received horror films, including Blood of the Vampire and The Flesh and the Fiends.
In the early 1960s, Berman and Baker shifted their focus to television, producing the hit series The Saint, starring Roger Moore, with a respectable budget of 30,000 pounds per episode. The show's success led to the end of the Berman-Baker partnership, and Berman went on to work as a solo producer on The Baron and later co-founded Scoton Productions with writer Dennis Spooner.
Scoton Productions created several successful series, including The Champions, Department S, and My Partner the Ghost, all of which were shot side-by-side at Elstree Studios. Although these shows were economically made, they have since acquired cult status. Berman's later attempts to revive his career, including the short-lived Jason King series and The Adventurer, were met with poor reception, and he eventually retired from public life, refusing to give interviews or comment on his career for the remainder of his life.
