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Usually billed as J. Elder Wills, this British film industry jack-of-all-trades was educated at London University. Wills began his show business career as a Drury Lane scenic artist; in 1927, he entered films as an art director. The first of his five directorial efforts was Tiger Bay (1933), which he also wrote. In the late '30s, Wills was on the ground floor of the tiny film firm that would later matriculate into Hammer Studios. He interrupted his film career to serve in WWII as a voluntary sabotage expert; his wartime exploits behind enemy lines would serve as the basis for the 1947 action film Against the Wind. After the war, Wills was employed as a producer/production designer for the Rank Organisation. He returned to Hammer as an art director, where he remained until the late '50s, working on such memorable productions as the Quatermass films. J. Elder Wills' life story was chronicled by author Leslie Bell in Sabotage.