Alexander Walker (23 March 1930 – 15 July 2003) was a film critic, born in Portadown, Northern Ireland. He was educated at Queen's University, Belfast, the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium and the University of Michigan, and worked for the Birmingham Post in the 1950s, before becoming film critic of the London Evening Standard in 1960, a role he retained until his death in 2003. He was a highly influential figure within the film industry, and also wrote a number of books including one on Stanley Kubrick, a history of the impact made on Hollywood by the rise of the talkies (The Shattered Silents) and a biography of Elizabeth Taylor. His most extensive work is a history of British cinema, spread over three books: Hollywood England, National Heroes and Icons in the Fire.
He assembled a collection of more than 200 drawings and prints by modern artists, which were bequeathed to the British Museum upon his death in 2003. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.
Double Takes - notes and afterthoughts on the movies 1956-1976, Elm Tree Books 1977
His history of British Film:
Hollywood UK – The British Film Industry in the 1960s, New York, Stein and Day 1974
National Heroes – British Cinema in the 70s and 80s, London: Harrap 1985
Icons in the Fire – the rise and fall of almost everybody in the British film industry 1984-2000, London, Orion Books 2004
Stanley Kubrick - Director, Norton 1999
Audrey - her real story, St. Martin's Press 1995
Bette Davis – a celebration, New York: Applause Theatre Books, 1998
Dietrich, New York: Harper and Row 1984
The Celluloid Sacrifice – aspects of sex in the movies, London: Joseph 1966
Elizabeth - The Life of Elizabeth Taylor, Weidenfeld 1991
Garbo - A portrait, Macmillan 1980
Fatal Charm – The Life of Rex Harrison, St. Martin's Press 1993
Joan Crawford - the ultimate star, Harper and Row 1983
It's only a movie, Ingrid – encounters on and off the screen, London, Headline 1988
Peter Sellers - the authorized biography, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1981
Vivien - The life of Vivien Leigh, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1987
Rudolph Valentino, Stein and Day 1976
Shattered Silents - how the talkies came to stay, London: Elm Tree Books 1978, New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1980
Stanley Kubrick directs, New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich 1972
Stardom - the Hollywood phenomenon, Stein and Day 1970
No Bells on Sunday: the Journals of Rachel Roberts (editor), London: Pavilion Books, 1984; New York, Harper & Row 1984