Ealing Studios

British film-producing company headed by Michael Balcon 1937-58. The studio made a distinctive series of comedies, which had an understated, self-deprecating humour, such as Passport to Pimlico, Kind Hearts and Coronets (which made English actor Alec Guinness an international film star), Whisky Galore! (all 1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), and The Ladykillers (1955).

The company also made movies in other genres, such as the crime thriller The Blue Lamp (1950) and the war story The Cruel Sea (1952). The studios themselves were opened in 1931, but film production ceased there in 1955 and they were acquired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1959. The BBC produced television programmes there for the next 20 years. In 1994 film production began again at Ealing, and the studios produced several high profile films such as An Ideal Husband (1999), Notting Hill (1999), and Star Wars: Episode II (2002).