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Then they came. Little shapes in the distance, growing bigger as they approached the convoy. Every gun was cocked and ready. All hell broke loose as they began to dive and the ships began their fire. The noise was deafening, the guns pounding, the roaring of the engines as the dive-bombers screamed
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Peffer often modelled for his own covers, as did his wife Kitty and his brother-in-law Jack Cooper. Peffer described Jack as "a top stuntman", standing in for Robert Shaw and Errol Flynn. Peffer said he always read the book he was working on to understand the scenario. He signed all of his Pan and
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By the mid-1980s, film distributors and exhibitors were facing a crisis as audiences in the United
Kingdom fell to the lowest level since the Second World War. Demand for traditional painted posters was declining as cinemas used different forms of promotion, printers were closing down and UK based
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in 1962, however, Pan chose to use film tie-in covers for future editions. This was part of a growing trend by
British paperback publishers in the 1960s to use more photographic covers or to buy in "second rights" painted images from abroad. Sometimes the same image might appear on more than one
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executives of the old school were retiring. With low audiences, US distributors were reluctant to spend money on separate UK publicity campaigns. It was at this time, 1985, that Peffer retired. He described his last year in the business as "terrible – there was no work at all".
158:, all for Pan. He was paid about £40 for each one. The model for Bond was Dick Orme. Peffer also created covers for the publishers Arrow, Compact, Corgi, Digit and Panther, amongst others. The Pan paperbacks were selling up to one million copies annually at the time.
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displays for cinemas. Soon he moved to
Weddell Brothers who produced film publicity materials and when their artist was called up for military service in 1940, Peffer replaced him, painting publicity images of Hollywood film stars.
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In the 1970s and 1980s, Peffer increasingly turned to quad film posters and home video sleeve design. His breakthrough into this area came when another artist who had too much work recommended Peffer for the poster of
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On leaving the Navy in
January 1946, Peffer considered becoming a professional boxer, a sport in which he had ability, but instead decided to become a commercial artist. He attended a few evening classes at
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in 1971. Peffer then began a busy period until his retirement in 1985 producing around 200 film posters and a similar number of video sleeves as home video became popular slightly later.
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In 1954 or 55 Peffer went freelance. He was noticed by the Pan Books art buyer, Tony Bowen-Davies, and in the 1950s and 1960s painted hundreds of book covers, including from 1957 the
93:, London, into a poor family, the son of an interior decorator. He left school at 13, working first as an errand boy for Leon Goodman Displays, a company that produced
282:, including details of his war service, but it remains unpublished. Extracts appear on the website sampeffer.com. He died on 14 March 2014 and was survived by Kitty.
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down at us. Bombs exploded all around, torpedoes were dropped as the
Heinkels and Stukas came out of their dives. It was over quite quickly.
38:(1958) by Charles Williams featured Peffer in boxing stance and his stuntman brother-in-law, Jack Cooper, being knocked out of the boat.
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but otherwise learned his craft on the job. He worked for various firms in the film publicity business until eventually joining
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Although his work was skilled, Peffer was not too fussy about which commissions he accepted, producing art for everything from
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No ships were sunk in that attack, but later, a ship on which Peffer was serving was sunk by enemy action.
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that he picked up while in the Royal Navy but tended to only sign the better work for other publishers.
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where he was in charge of the art department and knew John Vernon. He married Kitty (Kit) in 1949.
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In 1942 he was called up to serve in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He saw action in
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book. Together with increased competition in painted covers from younger
Italian artists like
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Transcript of a conversation between Sam Peffer, Pat Owen and Steve
Chibnall reproduced from
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in the 1950s and 1960s, for which he created a consistent and distinctive style.
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Bond paperbacks with Peffer artwork were some of those in the highest demand.
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MI6 The Home of James Bond 007, 21 October 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
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MI6 The Home of James Bond 007, 20 October 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
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The Pan paperback novels have become collectable and in 2005
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449:, No. 8, 1991. PAN 217, 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
496:"Extracting a pocket size profit from pulp fiction"
411:Cover Me. The Vintage Art of Pan Books: 1950–1965
61:; 3 November 1921 – 14 March 2014) was a British
22:Peffer's cover for the Pan paperback edition of
366:Branaghan, S. & Chibnall, S. (Ed.) (2006)
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368:British film posters: An illustrated history
278:Peffer wrote his biography under the title
50:(1980), starring Helen Mirren and John Shea
239:In 1980 he produced the cinema poster for
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524:Brief biography at The Art of Peff.
447:Paperback, Pulp and Comic Collector
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443:BLOOD, TOIL, SWEAT – AND GOUACHE!
574:People from Islington (district)
461:Branaghan & Chibnall, p. 132
274:Personal life and autobiography
266:Panther work with the nickname
183:Creatures of Evil/Blood Devils
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530:If You Could Sign Here Please
192:Kung Fu films to low budget "
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85:Early life and war service
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424:The Art Of Sam Peffer
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24:From Russia with Love
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589:British illustrators
394:Sam Peffer Biography
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46:Peffer's poster for
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569:Artists from London
310:Roger Hall (artist)
280:"Peff" a life story
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227:SS Experiment Camp
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230:(1976) and
140:Ian Fleming
71:home videos
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471:Sam Peffer
380:1844572218
370:. London:
316:References
286:Collecting
204:" such as
75:James Bond
57:(known as
474:The Times
343:The Times
251:John Shea
190:Bruce Lee
148:Moonraker
91:Islington
79:Pan Books
506:23 March
304:See also
236:(1980).
224:(1974),
142:novels
414:(2020)
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261:Method
164:Dr. No
156:Dr. No
26:, 1959
242:Hussy
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