Kate Bethune Obituary, Death – Kate Bethune of Colorado has sadly passed away. Kate was born in London to Judy (née Trowbridge), a teacher, and Geoffrey Wilson, the chairman of Oxfam and permanent secretary at the Ministry of Overseas Development. Kate originally attended the National Cathedral School in Washington.
DC, when the family immigrated to the US in 1958; after their return to the UK in 1966, Kate then enrolled at St. Paul’s Girls School in London. She then enrolled at York University to pursue her interests in politics and economics. From 1978 to 1981, she resided in Islington, north London, where she worked as an articled clerk and associate in the legal firm Denton, Hall & Burgin’s entertainment department. Kate was one of the first business affairs professionals hired by the newly founded Channel 4 in 1981.
She negotiated deals with the nascent independent production sector. She contributed a calm, positive competence in a chaotic situation when the channel and the producers were both getting their feet wet (nearly all of the programs had previously been created in-house at the BBC and ITV). The first episode of Channel 4 aired on November 2, 1982.
Everyone present recalls those times as being energetic, cheerful, and vivacious. Kate was at the center of it all. In 1983, Kate was persuaded to serve as the Callender Company’s head of business affairs with producer Colin Callendar. The 1987 Peter Greenaway film The Belly of an Architect is renowned in part for all the problems it caused Kate and her staff. In 1986, she started working for Don Taffner’s company DLT Entertainment as the head of business affairs.
She spoke frequently with Prince Edward about the disastrous It’s a Royal Knockout broadcast in June 1987 during her visit. For British Screen Finance, which was founded by the government in 1985 to support British and European motion pictures, Kate was an obvious choice. She began off as the managing director of commercial relations and held that position from 1992 until 1997.
During this period, she served on the boards of Women in Cinema and Television and the National Film and Television School. She made a substantial contribution to helping other filmmakers get the money they needed to finish their films. She never sought out the limelight, but many in the industry held her in high respect.