Richard EyreBirth Place: Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK Date of Birth: March 28, 1943 Heritage: British Contact Richard Eyre |
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Iris Background: “I did not live near a theatre and it was watching a television production of As You Like It (1963) (TV), starring Vanessa Redgrave, that gave me my interest in the stage. But young people these days can't do this as the BBC is not doing these sort of plays. I'm not saying the BBC should do classics for their own sake but they must be a part of the mix.” Richard Eyre Richard Eyre is a British director of film, television, stage and opera. His staging of Frank Loesser's musical, “Guys and Dolls,” earned him the Best Director honor from the 1982 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards, the 1983 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards and the 1996 London Critics Circle Theatre Awards (also for the play “John Gabriel Borkman”). He also won a London Critics Circle Theatre Award and a London Evening Standard Theatre Award for “King Lear” and “The Invention of Love” as well as an additional Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for “King Lear,” and was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Director for his work on David Hare's “Skylight” (1997) and a revival of Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” (2002). Eyre was awarded with the London Evening Standard Theatre Special Award in 1997, thanks to his directorship of the Royal National Theatre for 10 years from 1987 to 1997, and the 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement to Theatre. On the big screen, Eyre is best known for directing and co-writing the acclaimed biopic “Iris” (2001), from which he netted the Humanitas Prize Award, two BAFTA nominations and a Golden Berlin Bear nomination. Other films he has directed include “The Ploughman's Lunch” (1983, won an Evening Standard British Film Award), “Stage Beauty” (2004, won a Cambridge Film Festival Award), “Notes on a Scandal” (2006, won a Berlin International Film Festival and a BAFTA nomination) and “The Other Man” (2008). He won a BAFTA Award for directing the TV film “Tumbledown” (1988). Currently, Eyre resides in Brook Green, West London with his wife Sue Birtwistle.
Childhood and Family: Richard Eyre was born Richard Charles Hastings Eyre on March 28, 1943, in Barnstaple, Devon, England. He attended Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in Sherborne, and then Peterhouse at the University of Cambridge and Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. In 1973, Richard married Sue Birtwistle. His wife is a producer and writer of television drama.
Career: Richard Eyre served as associate director at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh from 1967 to 1972. He was awarded STV Awards for the Best Production in Scotland in three consecutive years from 1969 to 1971. He then moved to become artistic director at the Nottingham Playhouse, a gig he held from 1973 to 1978. During this period, he commissioned and helmed a number of new plays, including Trevor Griffith's “Comedians.” After leaving Nottingham Playhouse, Eyre branched out into the small screen by joining BBC's “Play for Today” as both director and producer between 1978 and 1980. Among episodes he directed for the show were “Waterloo Sunset” (1979), “Comedians” (1979), “The Imitation Game” (1980), “Pasmore” (1980) and “Country” (1981). In 1981, he directed a television film adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play, “Vishnyovyy sad,” called “The Cherry Orchard,” which starred Judi Dench, Bill Paterson and Anton Lesser. The film won two BAFTA TVs for Best Actress (Dench) and Best Video Lighting. He went on to make his feature film directing debut with “The Ploughman's Lunch,” a 1983 British drama starring Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and Rosemary Harris. The film brought Eyre a 1984 Evening Standard British Film in the category of Best Film. Meanwhile, in 1982, Eyre directed a famed revival of Frank Loesser's musical “Guys and Dolls” for the National Theatre. Featuring Bob Hoskins as Nathan Detroit, Julia McKenzie as Adelaide, Ian Charleson as Sky and Julie Covington as Sarah, the revival premiered on March 9, 1982, and was an overnight sensation. It ran for nearly four years and breaking all box office records. “Guys and Dolls” won five Olivier Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director (for Eyre). Eyre also won a London Evening Standard Theatre in the same category. He later repeated this production in 1996 with Imelda Staunton and Joanna Riding, and from which he nabbed a 1996 London Critics Circle Theatre for Best Director. In 1985, Eyre directed Lindsay Duncan, Stephen Rea and Keith Allen in the British comedy/romance film “Loose Connections,” written by Maggie Brooks, and Ian Holm, Penelope Wilton and Bill Owen in the comedy film “Laughterhouse,” written by Brian Glover. The same year, he also directed Denholm Elliott, Emlyn Williams and Connie Booth in the TV film “Past Caring,” from which he received a BAFTA TV nomination for Best Single Drama, sharing with Kenith Trodd. In 1986, he helmed an episode of “Screen Two” called “The Insurance Man,” and was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama for his work. Eyre went on to direct the television documentary “V.” (1987), a visualization of Tony Harrison's poem of the same name, and the made for TV film “Tumbledown” (1988), starring Colin Firth, Paul Rhys and David Calder. “Tumbledown” earned Eyre a 1989 BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama, which he shared with Richard Broke and Charles Wood. Eyre joined the National Theatre (later known as the Royal National Theatre) in 1987 as director and would keep the post for a decade until 1997. His report during this period was later published in 2003 by Bloomsbury as “National Service,” and it won the Theatre Book Prize. At National Theatre, Eyre produced more than 100 productions and directed about 27 plays, including Bertolt Brecht and Eisler's “Schweyk In the Second World War,” John Gay's “The Beggar's Opera,” Nikolai Gogol's “The Government Inspector,” Ben Jonson's “Bartholomew Fair,” Harley Granville Barker's “The Voysey Inheritance,”Richard III,” Tom Stoppard's “The Invention of Love” (won a a London Evening Standard Award and a London Critics Circle Theatre Award), “King Lear” (won a London Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards), David Hare's “Amy's View” and “Absence of War,” which he also directed for BBC TV in 1995. Under his direction, the group became the first British theater company to visit Lithuania, and also traveled to Korea, mainland China, South Africa, and New Zealand. Eyre returned to television in 1993 when he directed Maggie Smith, Rob Lowe and Gillian Raine in the TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' “Suddenly, Last Summer” (BBC). The drama was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for Smith's performance as Violet Venable. In the following year, Eyre made his opera directing debut with the production of “ La Traviata” at the Royal Opera House, which starred Angela Gheorghiu and was conducted by Sir Georg Solti. This production was televised and has been released on video and DVD. In 1997, he received a Tony nomination for Best Director (Play) for his work on David Hare's “Skylight.” Entering the new millennium, Eyre helmed a 14 minute short titled “Rockaby” (2000), written by Samuel Beckett and starring Penelope Wilton. In the following year, he scored a significant success on the big screen with “Iris,” a biopic of British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch (played by Judi Dench, and Kate Winslet as a young), with the screenplay by Eyre and Charles Wood, which was adapted from John Bayley's memoir “Elegy for Iris.” Released on December 14, 2001, the film won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Jim Broadbent's portrayal of John Bayley, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Dench and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Winslet. The film also amassed another 12 wins and 22 nominations, including for Eyre, the Humanitas Prize for Feature Film Category, BAFTA nominations for Best Screenplay – Adapted and the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, and a Golden Berlin Bear nomination. Eyre followed it up with “Stage Beauty” (2004), a British/American/German romantic period drama film starring Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Zoe Tapper and Tom Wilkinson. Eyre, who directed and served as executive producer, took home the Audience Award for Best Film at the 2004 Cambridge Film Festival for his efforts. He next directed Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighy in the film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize nominated novel by Zoë Heller, “Notes on a Scandal” (2006), which was a commercial and critical success. The film brought him Berlin International Film Festival's Teddy Audience Award, BAFTA's Alexander Korda Award nomination for Best British Film, and a David di Donatello nomination for Best European Film (Miglior Film dell'Unione Europea. On stage, Eyre directed a revival of Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” (2002) and was nominated for a Tony for Best Director (Play) for his effort. He then directed the stage adaptation of “Mary Poppins,” which debuted at the West End on December 2004 and had a more than three year run before it was closed in January 2008. Following its success at the West End, the production was brought to Broadway on November 16, 2006 and went on to perform well at the box office despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. On February 14, 2007, Eyre's production of Nicholas Wright's “The Reporter,” about journalist James Mossman, debuted at the National Theatre in London. Still in 2007, Eyre served as an executive producer on the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, “Atonement,” which was directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave, Juno Temple and Benedict Cumberbatch. He then directed, executive producing and co-wrote the British drama “The Other Man” (2008), starring Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas and Laura Linney. In 2009, he helmed the episode “The Three Kings” of “10 Minute Tales.” Eyre directed a new production of Bizet's opera “Carmen” for the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-2010. The show starred Latvian mezzo soprano Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna. Eyre is scheduled to direct the stage adaptation of Hollywood legend Robert Evans' memoirs, “The Kid Stays in the Picture” and its sequel, “The Fat Lady Sang.”
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