James Becket

James Becket was born on 5 October 1936 in New York City. He earned a B.A. with highest honors from Williams College, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1962, studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the Instituto de Economia of the University of Chile, and continued graduate work at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Those studies in law, economics and international affairs shaped a career that moved between reporting, advocacy and film.

In the 1960s Becket wrote as a foreign correspondent from Europe, Latin America and Africa. His articles appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, The New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and the Journal de Geneve, and he contributed scholarly work on land reform, economic development and international human rights law.

After the April 1967 Greek military coup, he and his wife Maria Hary Becket became central figures in the resistance abroad. Amnesty International commissioned Becket and Anthony Marreco to investigate torture in Athens. Their report and Becket's book Barbarism in Greece documented systematic abuse. He organized escapes of survivors who testified before the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg and appeared as a witness himself. The finding of Article 3 violations was decisive in condemning the junta and in Greece's withdrawal from the Council of Europe. The regime declared him persona non grata.

From 1974 to 1981 Becket served as UNHCR Director of Public Information, acting as spokesperson and producing documentaries on Vietnamese boat people, Cambodian refugees and African displacement. In 1971 he had already co-made the Chilean election film Que Hacer, later shown in Cannes Directors' Fortnight. After moving to Los Angeles he wrote, directed and produced independent features including Ulterior Motives, Natural Causes (Houston Film Festival Best Foreign Film), The Best Revenge, Plato's Run (with Roy Scheider and Gary Busey), Southern Cross and Junior Pilot. For television he directed After School and Schoolbreak Specials that won Humanitas and Peabody recognition, and wrote episodes of Miami Vice and Crime Story.

From 1999 through Becket Films he produced documentaries on childhood epilepsy, stroke recovery and a series of ecological symposia with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, known as the Green Patriarch. Later films include Sons of Africa (2014), about a Kilimanjaro peace climb by sons of former enemies, and The Seeds of Vandana Shiva (2020).

Becket was married to Maria Hary Becket, a Greek partner in the anti-junta campaign, and later to Camilla Denton. He had three children. A daughter's childhood epilepsy informed his later health documentaries. In later years he was associated with Ojai, California, through Becket Films. Colleagues remembered a career that joined Harvard legal training with field reporting and independent cinema.

James Becket died on 22 September 2026 at the age of 89. English Wikipedia records the date, and The Times published a notice on 25 September 2026 in its births, marriages and deaths register.

Becket's legacy spans three fields. As a human rights investigator he helped expose torture under the Greek Colonels and secure an international legal verdict that isolated the junta. As UNHCR's public-information director he shaped how a generation saw refugee crises on film. As a screenwriter and documentary producer he carried progressive politics into Hollywood features and ecology films under Becket Films. Sons of Africa and The Seeds of Vandana Shiva extended that work into the 2010s and 2020s.