Here is Pen Tennyson's biography:
Pen Tennyson was born in 1912 in London, England, to Charles Bruce Locker Tennyson, a civil servant and academic, and his wife Ivy Pretious. Through his father's side of the family, Tennyson was a great-grandson of the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who served as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1850 to 1892.
Tennyson received his secondary education at Eton College, an independent boarding school for boys, and entered the film industry in 1932 at the age of 20. His mother introduced him to film distributor Charles Moss Woolf, who in turn introduced him to film producer Michael Balcon, who became his mentor.
Tennyson started working as a camera assistant at the Gaumont British Studios and was later promoted to assistant director. He worked with Alfred Hitchcock on several films, including "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "The 39 Steps". Tennyson's relationship with Hitchcock was not without its problems, as Hitchcock played a cruel prank on him during the filming of "The 39 Steps".
In 1938, Michael Balcon became the head of the Ealing Studios, and Tennyson followed him to the company, where he was finally given the chance to direct his own films. His directing debut was the boxing-themed sports film "There Ain't No Justice" (1939),which was well-regarded by critics for its realistic portrayal of the boxing world.
Tennyson's second film was "The Proud Valley" (1940),which depicted the life of an African-American immigrant who works as a miner in the South Wales coalfield. However, the film was not successful due to the backlash against its star, Paul Robeson, who was blacklisted in the British film industry.
In 1940, Tennyson started his service in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and created the propaganda feature film "Convoy" (1940) to lionize the Royal Navy's activities in World War II. The film was a commercial success and became the most popular British film of 1940.
Later in 1940, Tennyson was commissioned in the Royal Navy and was transferred to a unit that created instructional films for the Admiralty. Tragically, he died in an airplane accident on July 7, 1941, at the age of 28, while filming a scene for an instructional film at Scapa Flow.
