MOVIES - July 1, 1988

The former work space of such legendary actors as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud--the famed Elstree Film Studios outside London--will close in October, according to the studios’ new owner, Renta Inmobilaria S.A., a Spanish real estate concern that bought Elstree from Los Angeles-based Cannon Films. Studio head Andrew Mitchell said Thursday that the sale was “another nail in the coffin of the (ailing) British film industry.” Elstree, which boasted the largest sound stage in Europe, was founded in 1926 as Britain’s first film studio. It was built outside of Greater London to avoid the capital’s infamous fogs. The last film to be made on the Elstree lot will probably be the latest Indiana Jones film, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”