Walker was born in
Portadown, County Armagh in
Northern Ireland, the only son of Alfred, a commercial traveller, and Ethel Walker. He was educated at Portadown Grammar School,
Queen's University, Belfast, the
College of Europe in
Bruges,
Belgium and the
University of Michigan, where he lectured in political philosophy for two years from 1952. The film critic of the London
Evening Standard from 1960, he remained in the role until his death in 2003. His most extended work was a book trilogy on the history of the British film industry:
Hollywood England,
National Heroes and
Icons in the Fire. In addition, he was the author of an
Elizabeth Taylor biography, a history of the impact made on
Hollywood by the rise of the talkies (
The Shattered Silents) and a study of the work of
Stanley Kubrick. Walker assembled a collection of more than 200 drawings and prints by modern artists, which were bequeathed to the
British Museum after his death in 2003. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the
18th Berlin International Film Festival. Walker was a frequent broadcaster on radio and television on the arts. He authored the television series
Moviemen and the BBC Radio series
Film Star. He was the author and co-producer of television programmes on the history of
Hollywood,
Greta Garbo, and
Charlie Chaplin. Walker was a member of the
British Screen Advisory Council (formerly the Wilson Interim Action Committee on the Film Industry) from 1977 to 1992 and of the Board of Governors at the
British Film Institute from 1989 to 1995. Rod Stoneman, who was chief executive of the Irish Film Board at the time, rejected Walker's criticism, and pointed out that, of the 23 Irish films which the board had assisted since its relaunch in 1993, only four had touched upon the Troubles. Having previously been a defender of Russell's early work for the
BBC he was increasingly critical of Russell films of the 1970s, reviewing
The Music Lovers (1970) he wrote: "This man must be stopped: bring me an
elephant gun." In a television showdown between the two men in response to Walker's assessment of
The Devils as "monstrously indecent", Russell reached over and hit him around the head with a rolled up newspaper copy of his own review. In later life, when asked about the incident and if he regretted it, Russell responded that he did regret it, "I wish it had been an iron bar." ==Honours==