Chairman of the Experimental Film Fund, created in 1952, an organisation which went on to become part of the British Film Institute and supported the earliest works of directors such as Ridley Scott.
Co-founded, with Carlyle Blackwell, the British studio Picadilly Pictures in 1926.
Co-founder, along with Graham Cutts, of Gainsborough Pictures in 1924.
Director and Head of Production at Ealing Film Studios from 1937 to 1959. With the demise of Ealing as an active film studio he went on to form Bryanston Films (1959) and took control of British Lion (1964).
Father of actress Jill Balcon, who was married to the poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis (aka Nicholas Blake, and Jonathan Balcon, a former Lloyd's broker.
Grandfather of Daniel Day-Lewis and Tamasin Day-Lewis.
He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1948 King's Honours List for his services to film.