Julie Payne obit

Producer Julie Payne, Longtime Ridley Scott Collaborator, Dies at 64

The Emmy winner served as managing director of Scott Free’s office in London for years.

 

She was not on the list.

Julie Payne, an Emmy-winning producer who managed the London operations of Ridley Scott’s Scott Free production company for more than 15 years, died June 15 in London following a short battle with cancer. She was 64.

Payne shared her Emmy with Scott, his late brother Tony and others for executive producing the BBC-HBO telefilm The Gathering Storm (2002), which centered on the “wilderness years” of Winston Churchill (Albert Finney) in the mid-1930s. She received another Emmy nomination for the 2009 follow-up Into the Storm.

Payne also executive produced Scott’s comedy A Good Year (2006), starring Russell Crowe, and produced the Eva Green-Juno Temple thriller Cracks (2009), directed by Scott’s daughter, Jordan Scott.

Payne and Scott began working together in the late 1980s, and they collaborated on such films as Thelma & Louise (1991), G.I. Jane (1997) and the best picture Oscar winner Gladiator (2000).

Payne started her career at the BBC in the early 1970s, working in its costume department. She then joined producer Sandy Lieberson (Jabberwocky), who would introduce her to Scott.

Payne served as managing director of Scott Free’s London office since 2010. She oversaw the company’s activities in film and television as well as Scott’s business interests across his other operations.

She is survived by her daughter Sarah and brother Mike with his family.