John Coates
Biography
John Coates was born in 1927, spent his army years as an officer in the 11th Hussars and, post war, as a distributor for Rank films throughout Asia, the Far East and Madrid. Together with George Dunning he founded the London-based TVC Animation Studio in 1957 being its managing director and producer.
Illustration Features
The British producer and dramaturgist of animated films John Coates, the man behind the Beatles’ film, and above all, a producer of the legendary film Yellow Submarine, now considered a major landmark in the history of animation. Author and producer of many animation adaptations of famous books for children, such as TV programme The Snowman, The Bear and the feature film When the Wind Blows of Raymond Briggs’ celebrated books as well as Oi! Get Off Our Train by John Burningham. As a series producer, Coates produced TV Specials based on the books of Beatrix Potter and titled, The World of Peter Rabbit & Friends and many other TV programmes for various British TV companies like The Fantastic Flying Journey, Jack Frost, Pumpkin Moon and The 13th Kitten. His work won many prestigeous awards, including the Oscar nomination and, above all, a big popularity among children´s audience.