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Cedric Messina (14 December 1920 [1] in Port Elizabeth, South Africa — 30 April 1993 in London) [2] was a South-African born British television producer and director who worked for the BBC and is best remembered for his involvement in television productions of classic drama.
May 17, 1993 · Cedric Messina, a television producer whose work included plays by Shakespeare, died on April 30 in London, the British press reported last week. He was 72. The cause of death was not given.
Nov 9, 2018 · This Hamlet was the last staging to be produced by Cedric Messina and represents a very deliberate break from the “filmic” vision promoted in that era. And not a moment too soon.
Cedric Eugene Messina, television producer: born Port Elizabeth, South Africa 1920; married (one daughter); died London 30 April 1993.
In 1979 Messina had produced Ian Curteis’s epic documentary drama Suez 1956 and was set to produced the author’s similar The Falklands Play in 1986 until it was cancelled in contentious circumstances, becoming a media cause célèbre.
Cedric Messina worked at the South African Broadcasting Corporation both before and after the Second World War, initially as a radio announcer and later as a drama producer. After a temporary assignment to the BBC, he joined the Corporation permanently in the late 1950s.
The running-time requirement was swiftly jettisoned when it became clear that the major tragedies in particular would have suffered severely, but other artistic restrictions remained largely in place throughout.
