View source for Peter Lord

{{Short description|British animator}}
{{for|the art historian|Peter Lord (art historian)}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Peter Lord
| honorific_suffix = [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire|CBE]]
| image        =Peter Lord making Morph June 2014.jpg
| caption      = Lord with [[Morph (animation)|Morph]] in 2014
| birth_name  = Peter Duncan Fraser Lord
| birth_date   = {{birth date and age|1953|11|4|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Bristol]], England
| occupation   = [[Animator]], [[Film director|director]], [[film producer]]
| nationality  = British
| notable_works = ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' (1989), ''[[Chicken Run]]'' (2000),  ''[[The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!]]'' (2012)
| signature    = Peter Lord signature.svg
| signature_size     = 110px
}}

'''Peter Duncan Fraser Lord''' [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire|CBE]] (born 4 November 1953)<ref>{{cite web|title=Peter Duncan Fraser Lord personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK|website=[[Companies House]]|access-date=6 April 2024|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/eZnzviT6n2k4Hedjjg9D94_vvgE/appointments}}</ref>  is a British animator, director, producer and co-founder of the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]-winning [[Aardman Animations]] studio, an animation firm best known for its [[clay animation|clay-animated]] films and shorts, particularly those featuring [[plasticine]] duo [[Wallace & Gromit]]. He also directed ''[[Chicken Run]]'' along with [[Nick Park]] from [[DreamWorks Animation]], and ''[[The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!]]'' from [[Columbia Pictures]] and [[Sony Pictures Animation]] which was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Animated Feature|Best Animated Feature]] at the 85th Academy Awards.

Lord is the producer/executive producer of every Aardman work, including ''Chicken Run'', ''[[Arthur Christmas]]'' and ''[[Flushed Away]].''

==Life and career==
Lord was born in [[Bristol]], England. In co-operation with [[David Sproxton]], a friend of his youth at school together in [[Woking]] in the 1960s, he realised his dream of "making and taking an animated movie". He graduated in English from the [[University of York]] in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/pressreleases/peterlordtalk.htm |title=University of York press release |publisher=york.ac.uk |access-date=18 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509015607/http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/pressreleases/peterlordtalk.htm |archive-date=9 May 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He and Sproxton founded ''Aardman'' as a low-budget backyard studio, producing [[Short film|shorts]] and [[Trailer (film)|trailers]] for publicity. Their work was first shown as part of the BBC TV series ''[[Vision On]]''. In 1977 they created [[Morph (character)|Morph]], a stop-motion animated character made of Plasticine, who was usually a comic foil to the TV presenter [[Tony Hart]]. With his amoral friend Chas, he appeared in a series of children's art programmes including ''Take Hart'', ''Hartbeat'' and ''Smart''. From 1980 to 1981, Morph appeared in his own TV series ''[[The Amazing Adventures of Morph]]''.

Experiments with animated clay characters synchronised with 'live' recorded soundtracks led to a series of films in the style of animated documentary. The first two were part of the BBC TV series ''[[Animated Conversations]]'' and were called "Down and Out" (1977) and "[[Confessions of a Foyer Girl]]" (1978) . These were followed in 1983 by ''[[Conversation Pieces]]'', a series of five-minute long films produced for [[Channel 4]]. They were called [[On Probation (1983 film)|"On Probation"]], ''[[Sales Pitch (film)|Sales Pitch]]'', "[[Palmy Days]]", "Late Edition" and "Early Bird".

In 1985 [[Nick Park]] joined the group.

Lord, Park and Sproxton developed and finalised their style of detailed and lovingly designed [[clay animation]] characters from [[Stop Motion|stop motion techniques]] (though directed by [[Stephen R. Johnson|Stephen Johnson]] their claymation is shown in the music video "Sledgehammer" (1986) by [[Peter Gabriel]]). In 1991 Lord animated ''Adam'', a 6-minute clay animation that was nominated for an [[Academy Award]].  Park created the "odd-couple" [[Wallace & Gromit]]-shorts in co-operation with Lord and Sproxton. All three together worked as producers, editors and directors. Other awarded productions by Peter Lord are ''[[Chicken Run]]'' (2000), the first feature film from Aardman and the Academy Award-winning ''[[Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]'' (2005).

In 2006, Lord, Sproxton and Park were all given "the Freedom of the City of Bristol". In that same year, Lord (along with Sproxton) visited the "Aardman Exhibit" at the [[Ghibli Museum]] in [[Mitaka, Tokyo|Mitaka]], Tokyo, Japan, where he met [[Hayao Miyazaki]]. Miyazaki has long been a fan of the Aardman Animation works.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mulrooney|first1=Marty|title=INTERVIEW – In Conversation With Merlin Crossingham, Lead Animator at Aardman Animation|date=27 November 2009|url=http://alternativemagazineonline.co.uk/2009/11/27/interview-in-converstion-with-merlin-crossingham-lead-animator-at-aardman-animation/|publisher=Alternative Magazine|access-date=29 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Aardman exhibits, new Miyazaki anime on view|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2006/11/24/culture/aardman-exhibits-new-miyazaki-anime-on-view/#.VoKx9_mLSUk|access-date=29 December 2015|work=The Japan Times|date=24 November 2006}}</ref> In 2013 Lord was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 85th Academy Awards for ''[[The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!]]'' (2012).

Lord was made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) on 17 June 2006.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=58014 |date=17 June 2006 |page=8 |supp=y }}</ref>

On 9 July 2015, Lord received a Gold [[Blue Peter badge]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.animationmagazine.net/people/peter-lord-earns-blue-peter-badge/|title = Peter Lord Earns Blue Peter Badge|date = 10 July 2015}}</ref>

In August 2016, Lord was appointed a visiting professorship at [[Volda University College]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hivolda.no/hivolda/om-hogskulen/styre-og-leiing/direktor/?&displayitem=5699&module=news|title=– Mr. Aardman, Peter Lord, appointed professor in Volda|last=Brandal|first=Per Arne|website=www.hivolda.no|language=nn|access-date=2017-03-17|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317235652/http://www.hivolda.no/hivolda/om-hogskulen/styre-og-leiing/direktor/?&displayitem=5699&module=news|archive-date=17 March 2017}}</ref>

Three of Lord's films–''War Story'', ''Adam'', and ''Wat's Pig''–have been preserved by the [[Academy Film Archive]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=https://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=peter+lord&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive}}</ref>

In 2021, he was featured in the film ''Cartoon Carnival'', a documentary about the origins of animation.<ref>[https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/cartoon-carnival-and-fleischer-tribute-on-tcm-saturday-oct-2nd/ “Cartoon Carnival” and Fleischer Tribute on TCM Saturday Oct. 2nd]</ref>

==Filmography==

===Feature films===

{| class="wikitable"
|-  style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Film
! Director
! Producer
! Writer
! Other
! Notes
|-
|2000
|''[[Chicken Run]]''
|{{Ya}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
| Story
|-
|2005
|''[[Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|
|-
|2006
|''[[Flushed Away]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
| Story
|-
|2011
|''[[Arthur Christmas]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|
|-
|2012
|''[[The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!|The Pirates! Band of Misfits]]''
|{{Ya}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|Actor: "Additional voices"
|-
|2013
|''[[The Croods]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|Special thanks
|-
|2015
|''[[Shaun the Sheep Movie]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|Executive producer
|-
|2018
|''[[Early Man (film)|Early Man]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|
|-
|2019
|''[[A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|Executive producer
|-
|2023
|''[[Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget]]''
|{{Na}}
|{{Ya}}
|{{Na}}
|{{Na}}
|Executive producer
|}

===TV series===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Notes
|-
| 1977-1983 
| ''[[Take Hart]]''
| Animator
|-
| 1977-1978
| ''[[Animated Conversations]]''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1980-1981
| ''[[The Amazing Adventures of Morph]]''
| Animator
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Pee-wee's Playhouse]]''
| Animation director
|-
| 1986
| ''[[No. 73]]''
| Himself
|-
|-
| 1995 
| ''[[The Morph Files]]''
| Director; executive producer
|-
| 1998
| ''[[Rex the Runt]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2000
| ''[[Omnibus (UK TV series)|Omnibus]]''
| Himself
|-
| 2000
| ''The Panel''
| Himself
|-
| 2002
| ''[[Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraptions]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2003-2006
| ''[[Creature Comforts]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2006
| ''[[Planet Earth (2006 TV series)|Planet Earth]]''
| Thanks
|-
| 2006
| ''[[Purple and Brown]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2007
| ''The Peculiar Adventures of Hector''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2007–present
| ''[[Shaun the Sheep]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2008 
| ''[[Chop Socky Chooks]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2009-2012
| ''[[Timmy Time]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2010
| ''[[Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2014–present
| ''[[Morph (animation)#Series overview|Morph]]''
| Executive producer; script writer
|}

===Shorts===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Notes
|-
| 1983
| ''[[Sales Pitch (film)|Sales Pitch]]''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1983
| ''[[On Probation (1983 film)|On Probation]]''
| Director; producer; animator
|-
| 1983
| ''Palmy Days''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1983
| ''Late Edition''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1983
| ''Early Bird''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1986 
| ''[[Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel song)|Sledgehammer]]''
| Animator
|-
| 1986
| ''[[Sweet Disaster#Babylon (1986)|Babylon]]''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1987
| ''[[My Baby Just Cares for Me#Music video|My Baby Just Cares for Me]]''
| Director
|-
| 1989
| ''[[War Story (1989 film)|War Story]]''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1989
| ''[[A Grand Day Out]]''
| Special thanks
|-
| 1990
| ''[[Going Equipped (film)|Going Equipped]]''
| Director; animator
|-
| 1992
| ''[[Adam (1992 film)|Adam]]''
| Director; writer; executive producer; art director; animator; model maker
|-
| 1992
| ''Never Say Pink Furry Die''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1993
| ''Loves Me, Loves Me Not''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1993
| ''[[The Wrong Trousers]]''
| Executive producer; additional animator
|-
| 1993
| ''[[Not Without My Handbag]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1995
| ''[[Pib and Pog#Short film|Pib and Pog]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1995
| ''[[A Close Shave]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1996
| ''[[Wat's Pig]]''
| Director; writer; executive producer; animator
|-
| 1997
| ''[[Stage Fright (1997 film)|Stage Fright]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1997
| ''[[Owzat]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1999
| ''[[Humdrum]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 1999
| ''[[Minotaur and Little Nerkin]]''
| Thanks
|-
| 2001
| ''Chunga Chui Leopard Beware''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2001
| ''Ernest''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2005
| ''Tales for the Rest of Us''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2005
| ''Ramble On''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2006
| ''Off Beat''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2007
| ''[[The Pearce Sisters]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2008 
| ''[[A Matter of Loaf and Death]]''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2011
| ''The Itch of the Golden Nit''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2011
| ''Pythagasaurus''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2012 
| ''So You Want to Be a Pirate!''
| Executive producer
|-
| 2015
| ''Heroes of Christmas''
| Inspiration
|-
| 2015
| ''Special Delivery''
| Story; creative director; voice of "Santa"
|-
| 2015 
| ''[[Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas]]''
| Executive producer
|}

==Books==
* Peter Lord & [[Brian Sibley]]: ''Cracking Animation'' (1998) Thames & Hudson; {{ISBN|0-500-28168-8}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name|0520485|Peter Lord}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180212223944/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba182888b Peter Lord] at the [[British Film Institute]]{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120427214102/http://www.criticizethis.ca/2012/04/qa-with-peter-lord-director-of-the-pirates-band-of-misfits.html Q&A With Peter Lord about The Pirates! Band of Misfits]

{{Peter Lord}}
{{Aardman Animations}}
{{Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Animated Feature}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Peter}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Aardman Animations people]]
[[Category:DreamWorks Animation people]]
[[Category:Sony Pictures Animation people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of York]]
[[Category:Animation screenwriters]]
[[Category:British animated film directors]]
[[Category:British animated film producers]]
[[Category:British animators]]
[[Category:British film directors]]
[[Category:British film producers]]
[[Category:British male screenwriters]]
[[Category:British television directors]]
[[Category:British television producers]]
[[Category:British television writers]]
[[Category:Clay animators]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:English animators]]
[[Category:English film directors]]
[[Category:English film producers]]
[[Category:English male screenwriters]]
[[Category:English screenwriters]]
[[Category:English television directors]]
[[Category:English television producers]]
[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:Film people from Bristol]]
[[Category:Stop motion animators]]