Lew Grade

Lew Grade Baron Grade OStJ born Lev Winogradsky 25 December 1906 13 December 1998 was a Russianborn British media proprietor and impresario Originally a dancer and later a talent agent Grades interest in television production began in 1954 when he founded the Incorporated Television Company ITC commonly known as ITC Entertainment to distribute programmes and following the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood decided to focus on bringing them to the American market Grade had some success in this field with such series as Gerry Andersons many Supermarionation series such as Thunderbirds Patrick McGoohans The Prisoner and Jim Hensons The Muppet Show Later Grade invested in feature film production but several expensive boxoffice failures caused him to lose control of ITC and ultimately resulted in the disestablishment of ATV after it lost its ITV franchise Description above from the Wikipedia article Lew Grade licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia