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Alan Bennett (born May 9, 1934) is an England author and actor famous for his work, boyish appearance and his sonorous Yorkshire accent.
Life and work
Born in Leeds, Bennett was schooled at Leeds Modern School (a state grammar school), learned Russian language at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his National Service, and gained a place at Cambridge University. However, having spent time in Cambridge during national service, and partly wishing to follow the object of his unrequited love, he decided to apply for a scholarship at Oxford University. He went on to take a British undergraduate degree classification degree in history from Exeter College, Oxford. He was to remain at Oxford for several years studying Medieval History before realising he was not cut out to be an academic.
He claims that as an adolescent he assumed he would grow up to be a Church of England clergyman, for no better reason than he looked like one.
In August 1960, Bennett, along with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook, achieved instant fame by appearing at the Edinburgh Festival in the satire revue Beyond the Fringe. After the Festival, the show continued in London and New York. He also appeared in My Father Knew Lloyd George. Bennett's first stage play, "Forty Years On", was produced in 1968. He has written many short stories.
Many of Bennett's characters are unfortunate and downtrodden, as in the Talking Heads (plays) series of monologues for television which were later performed at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1992. This was a sextet of poignantly comic pieces, each of which portrayed several stages in the character's decline from their initial state of denial or ignorance of their predicament, through their slow realization of the hopelessness of their situation, to a typically bleak Bennett conclusion. A second set of six followed a decade later. He has written candidly and movingly of the mental illness that afflicted his mother and other family members.
Many of his plays draw on his background in Leeds and while he is celebrated for his acute observations of northern speech, the range and daring of his work is often undervalued – his television play The Old Crowd, for example includes shots of the director and technical crew, while his stage play The Lady in the Van includes two characters named Alan Bennett. The Lady in the Van was based on his experiences with a tramp called Miss Shepherd who lived on Bennett's driveway in a dilapidated van for fifteen years.
In 1998, Bennett refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, in protest at its links with the press baron Rupert Murdoch.
In February 2005 his critically-acclaimed The History Boys http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=7785&cc=1 won three Olivier Awards, for Best New Play, Best Actor (Richard Griffiths), and Best Direction (Nicholas Hytner), having previously won Critics' Circle Awards and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor and Best Play. Bennett himself received an Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=613121&host=5&dir=500. A film version of The History Boys was released in the UK on October 13, 2006. Bennett discussed the play and its themes in a one-on-one interview on stv.tv.
In September 2005, Bennett revealed that, in 1997, he had undergone treatment for cancer, and described the illness as a "bore". His chances of survival were given as being "much less" than 50%. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4277976.stm. He began Untold Stories (published 2005) thinking it would be published posthumously. In the event his cancer went into remission. In the autobiographical sketches Bennett writes openly for the first time about his homosexuality.
Bennett has lived in London's Camden Town for thirty years, and shares his house with his partner of 14 years, Rupert Thomas.
Further reading
From Fringe to Flying Circus – 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980' – Roger Wilmut, Lyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.
Footlights! – 'A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy' – Robert Hewison, Methuen London Ltd, 1983.
Television work
My Father Knew Lloyd George (also writer), 1965 Famous Gossips, 1965 Plato—The Drinking Party, 1965 Alice in Wonderland (1966 movie), 1966 On the Margin series (also writer), 1966-67 A Day Out (also writer), 1972 Sunset Across the Bay (also writer), 1975 A Little Outing (also writer), 1975 A Visit from Miss Prothero (writer),1978 Me—I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf (writer), 1978 Doris and Doreen (Green Forms) (writer), 1978 The Old Crowd (writer), 1979 Afternoon Off (writer), 1979 One Fine Day (writer), 1979 All Day On the Sands (writer), 1979 Objects of Affection (Our Winnie, A Woman of No Importance, Rolling Home, Marks, Say Something Happened, Intensive Care) (also writer), 1982 The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1982 An Englishman Abroad (writer), 1983 The Insurance Man (writer), 1986 Breaking Up, 1986 Man and Music (narrator), 1986 Talking Heads (plays) (A Chip in the Sugar, Bed Among the Lentils, A Lady of Letters, Her Big Chance, Soldiering On, A Cream Cracker Under the Settee) (also writer), 1987 Down Cemetery Road: The Landscape of Philip Larkin (presenter), 1987 Fortunes of War series (actor), 1987 Dinner at Noon (narrator), 1988 Poetry in Motion (presenter), 1990 102 Boulevard Haussmann (writer), 1990 A Question of Attribution (writer), 1991 Selling Hitler, 1991 Poetry in Motion 2 (presenter), 1992 Portrait or Bust (presenter), 1994 The Abbey (presenter), 1995 A Dance To The Music Of Time, 1997 Talking Heads (plays), 1998 Telling Tales, 2000
Films
Long Shot, 1980 Dreamchild (voice only), 1985 The Secret Policeman's Ball, 1986 The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, 1982 A Private Function (screenplay), 1986 Pleasure at Her Majesty's, 1987 Prick Up Your Ears (screenplay), 1987 Little Dorrit (film), 1987 Parson's Pleasure (film) (writer), 1995 The Madness of King George (screenplay from his play of the same name), 1995 The History Boys (film) (screenplay, from his play of the same name), 2006
Radio
The Great Jowett, 1980 Dragon, 1982 Uncle Clarence (writer, narrator), 1985 Better Halves (narrator), 1988 The Lady in the Van (writer, narrator), 1990 Winnie-the-Pooh (narrator), 1990
Stage
Better Late, 1959 Beyond the Fringe (also co-writer), 1960 The Blood of the Bambergs, 1962 A Cuckoo in the Nest, 1964 Forty Years On (also writer), 1968 Sing a Rude Song (co-writer), 1969 Getting On (writer), 1971 Habeas Corpus (also writer), 1973 The Old Country (writer), 1977 Enjoy (writer), 1980 Kafka's Dick (writer), 1986 A Visit from Miss Prothero (writer), 1987 Single Spies (An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution) (also writer and director), 1988 The Wind in the Willows (adaptation), 1990 The Madness of George III (writer), 1991 Talking Heads (Waiting for the telegram, A Chip in the Sugar, Bed Among the Lentils, A Lady of Letters, Her Big Chance, Soldiering On, A Cream Cracker Under the Settee) (also writer), 1992 The History Boys (writer), 2004; Winner of Tony Award for Best Play, 2006.
Publications
Beyond the Fringe (with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore). London: Souvenir Press, 1962, and New York: Random House, 1963 Forty Years On. London: Faber, 1969 Getting On. London: Faber, 1972 Habeas Corpus. London: Faber, 1973 The Old Country. London: Faber, 1978 Enjoy. London: Faber, 1980 Office Suite. London: Faber, 1981 Objects of Affection. London: BBC Publications, 1982 A Private Function. London: Faber, 1984 Forty Years On; Getting On; Habeas Corpus. London: Faber, 1985 The Writer in Disguise. London: Faber, 1985 Prick Up Your Ears. London: Faber, 1987 Two Kafka Plays. London: Faber, 1987 Talking Heads. London: BBC Publications, 1988; New York: Summit, 1990 Single Spies. London: Faber, 1989 *Winner of Olivier Award: England's best comedy for 1989 Single Spies and Talking Heads. New York: Summit, 1990 The Lady in the Van, 1990 Poetry in Motion (with others). 1990 The Wind in the Willows. London: Faber, 1991 Forty Years On and Other Plays. London: Faber, 1991 The Madness of George III. London: Faber, 1992 Poetry in Motion 2 (with others). 1992 Writing Home (memoir & essays). London: Faber, 1994 The Madness of King George (screenplay), 1995 Father ! Father ! Burning Bright (prose version of 1982 TV script, Intensive Care), 1999 The Laying on of Hands (novella), 2000 The Clothes They Stood Up In (novella), 2001 Untold Stories (autobiographical and essays), London, Faber/Profile Books, 2005, ISBN 0-571-22830-5
Translations
French Soins intensifs, 2006
German Der Rote Baron, Sein letzter Flug, 2001 Vater, Vater, lichterloh, 2002 Così fan tutte, (previously published as Alle Jahre wieder) 2003 Die Lady im Lieferwagen, 2004 Handauflegen, 2005
Italian La pazzia di re Giorgio, 1996 Nudi e crudi, 2001 La cerimonia del massaggio, 2002 La signora nel furgone, 2003 Signore e signori, 2004 Scritto sul corpo, 2006
Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/
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