---
name: "Don Blakeney"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/don-blakeney"
fi1m_id: "don-blakeney"
tmdb_id: 1357780
roles: ["Producer"]
born: "11 September 1943"
died: "3 May 2025"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T01:12:42.532189+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Don Blakeney

## Identity

Don Blakeney

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/don-blakeney
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** don-blakeney
- **TMDB ID:** 1357780
- **Same entity:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1357780

Producer. Born 11 September 1943 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Died 3 May 2025.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer
- **Born:** 11 September 1943, New Plymouth, New Zealand
- **Died:** 3 May 2025
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1357780

## Biography

Don Blakeney was a New Zealand film producer and the first Executive Director of the New Zealand Film Commission. Born in New Plymouth on 11 September 1943, he held a Bachelor of Commerce from Victoria University and worked in finance, including an overseas role with P&O, before leaving the corporate sector in 1973.

He entered the film industry as unit caterer on *Sleeping Dogs* (1977) and later contributed to financing early New Zealand features through tax shelter mechanisms. Blakeney served as executive producer on *Sons for the Return Home* (1979) and *Goodbye Pork Pie* (1981). He produced Geoff Murphy’s *Utu* (1983), managing the financial and resourcing aspects of the production.

Blakeney died on 3 May 2025, aged 81.

*Sources: nzonscreen.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Utu* (1983), Fi1m 74, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/utu.md)

## Complete filmography (3)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Utu* (1983), Producer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/utu.md)
- *Sons for the Return Home* (1979), Producer
- *Sleeping Dogs* (1978), as Catering

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/don-blakeney