William Markus

Karl William Marcus (formerly Söderström) (12 January 1917 Liverpool, England – 10 October 1989 Espoo, Finland) was a Finnish-British film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer who used the stage name William Markus.

Marcus was born in Liverpool, England, to a Finnish father, Captain, Lieutenant Commander Karl Ilmari Söderström and an English mother May Isabel Blance Cope. His mother languages were English, Finnish, and Swedish. He had a dual citizenship in Finland and the United Kingdom.

His acting career started in 1944, and he changed his surname from Söderström to Marcus.

Traveler's Oases (1953) is a short film directed and starred by Marcus. The story tells of a Finnish family, which lives in the United States of America. The family visits famous Finnish cities and landmarks.

Marcus was a pioneer in the Finnish film industry because he introduced British humour in his films for the Finnish audiences. Autuas Eversti (The Blessed Colonel, 1958) was censored because the Colonel came to life and rose from the coffin. The coffin scene was too much for Finnish officials at the Finnish Board of Film Classification. Eventually, the film was released from censorhip after removing unwanted scenes.

The increasing amount of censorship in the Finnish film industry affected Markus' other film, Verta käsissämme (Blood on our Hands) in 1958. The film was censored four times. It is assumed that the Finnish Board of Film Classification tried to censor the entire film because the film showed Finnish war prisoners in a Soviet concentration camp. Finland's foreign policy was heading towards Finlandization Public outrage and pressure released the film from censorship.

Marcus acted in the British film, The Wooden Horse in 1950. The film was the third most popular film at the British box office in 1950.

He acted in 14 films between 1944 and 1957. He was a writer in six productions.

He directed 13 films between 1953 and 1965. His film Miriam was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival as an Official Selection. Marcus was a film director at Suomen Filmiteollisuus.

He founded Tuotanto William Marcus & Co, which he owned between 1959 and 1989. The production company produced films and advertisements for Finnish and foreign companies.