A BUDDING filmmaker has managed to glean an exclusive insight into the life of Stockton starlet Ivy Close.

It was while Stockton Riverside College student Callum Simpson was working on a short documentary about the star that his research revealed a family link between the actress and Downton Abbey executive producer Gareth Neame – one of her great grandsons.

And the pair met up in Mr Neame’s London office so the student could learn more about the Stockton-born model turned actress, who made her name when she won the first nationwide beauty competition in the Daily Mirror in 1908.

Labelled by the newspaper as the “World’s Most Beautiful Woman”, she went on to compete with the US winner, and won.

Charming the British public, she became an instant celebrity and starred in a number of films of the silent era.

She and her first husband, photographer and filmmaker Elwin Neame, established the production company, Ivy Close Films.

“I chose to focus on Ivy Close for my documentary due to her local links,” the student said.

“The fact that she went on to start a production company makes her a role model and beacon of hope of what can be achieved.”

Ivy and Elwin’s sons, Ronald and Derek, would also go on to make their names in the industry, Ronald as a director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter, and Derek as an author and screenwriter.

Her grandson Christopher, Gareth’s father, was also a producer and screenwriter.

The student said: “Ivy created a legacy in the movie industry. I found that Gareth is passionate about keeping the memory of his great grandmother alive, which is why he agreed to be interviewed.

“Going to his office was crazy, there was a cabinet there with all of his Emmy awards and Golden Globes. I was really nervous at first, but it was a shock how normal he was. He didn’t have to speak to me, he is a busy man, but he made the time and was fantastic.

“He spent the first 10 minutes asking about my course and what we were doing, he was genuinely interested.

“Because he is a relative of Ivy Close he had a real knowledge of the type of person that she was, he knew things that has been passed down from the family.

“For someone like me, who is just starting out and hopes to go on to work in the industry this really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”