Film Outfitting
Ker & Downey has played a starring role in the movie business from the very beginning. In 1946, Donald Ker and Syd Downey hosted their first safari together for the African shoot of Ernest Hemingway’s The Macomber Affair. Its success spawned a business that has seen the company host, manage and even act in some of the greatest films ever made — from King Solomon’s Mines to Out of Africa, Cry Freedom and Gorillas in the Mist.
Over seven decades we have worked with Grace Kelly, Meryl Streep, Clark Gable, John Wayne and Ralph Fiennes; made documentaries for National Geographic; and built camps for up to 3,000 crew. John Sutton was Sydney Pollack’s right hand on Out of Africa, Derek Dames designed cages for trained lions, and Tim Melesi built a fibreglass cow attacked by a lion on camera — sewing fillet steak around its neck for the effect.
Full list of productions: King Solomon’s Mines, Where No Vultures Fly, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Mogambo, The Lion, Hatari!, Call Me Bwana, Sammy Going South, Mister Moses, Cowboy in Africa, Out of Africa, Ashanti, Quest for Fire, Sheena Queen of the Jungle, The Colour Purple, The Missionary, Cry Freedom, Gorillas in the Mist, The Mountains of the Moon, The Constant Gardener, Nowhere in Africa and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, among others.
