Sean Graham was born as Hans Friedrich Hermann Isay in Berlin, Germany. He was an author, screenwriter, filmmaker and producer. In 1933, the family fled to Hampstead, London. He studied law at Cambridge University. When war broke out he was initially interned as an alien but, changing his name to Sean Graham, he worked as an interpreter with the British army, rising in the ranks to lieutenant-colonel. After the war he became a film trainee with Paul Rotha at Elstree studios and in 1948 moved to Ghana, where he spent ten years developing the country's film industry. After a brief stay in Tunisia he returned to work in film in London.