Frederic Raphael
Encyclopedia
Frederic Michael Raphael (born August 14, 1931) is an American-born, British-educated screenwriter
, and also a prolific novelist and journalist
.
, England
in 1938.
s, Copthorne Preparatory School
, near Crawley
in West Sussex
, and Charterhouse School
(Lockites) in Godalming
in Surrey
, and then at St John's College
at the University of Cambridge
in Cambridge
.
for the screenplay for the 1965 movie Darling, and two years later received an Oscar
nomination for his screenplay for Two for the Road. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1967 film adaptation of Thomas Hardy
's Far From the Madding Crowd
directed by John Schlesinger
.
His articles and book reviews appear in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times
and The Sunday Times
. He has published more than twenty novels, the best-known being the semi-autobiographical The Glittering Prizes
(1976), which traces the lives of a group of Cambridge University undergraduates in post-war Britain as they move through university and into the wider world. The original six-part BBC television series, from which the book was adapted, won him a Royal Television Society
Writer of the Year Award. Fame and Fortune, which continues the story to 1979, was adapted in 2007 and broadcast on BBC Radio 4
, television channels having refused to commission the sequel themselves. In 2010, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a further sequel in a series entitled Final Demands, with Tom Conti
as Adam Morris, the central character, bringing the story to the late 1990s.
Raphael has also published several history books, collections of essays and translations. He has also written biographies of Somerset Maugham and Lord Byron. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
in 1964.
In 1999, Raphael published Eyes Wide Open, a memoir of his collaboration with the director Stanley Kubrick
on the screenplay of Eyes Wide Shut
, Kubrick's final movie. Upon its publication, the book was publicly discredited by several of Kubrick's friends and family members, among them Christiane Kubrick
, Jan Harlan
, Michael Herr
, Steven Spielberg
and Tom Cruise
. Studio executives at Warner Bros.
responded to the book's publication by refusing to allow Raphael to attend the Eyes Wide Shut premiere.
That same year, Penguin Books
also published a new translation of Arthur Schnitzler
's Dream Story
, the basis for Eyes Wide Shut, featuring an introduction by Raphael.
He married Sylvia Betty Glatt on January 17, 1955 and their children are Paul Simon a film producer, Sarah Natasha
(1960–2001) who was a painter, and Stephen Matthew Joshua a screenwriter.
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, and also a prolific novelist and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
.
Life and career
Raphael was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irene Rose (née Mauser) and Cedric Michael Raphael, an employee of the Shell Oil Co. With his parents, he emigrated to PutneyPutney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1938.
Education
Raphael was educated at two independent schoolIndependent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
s, Copthorne Preparatory School
Copthorne Prep School
Copthorne Preparatory School is situated near Crawley in West Sussex, for pupils aged between 2 and 13. It consists of a nursery for infants from 2½. A junior department is for children under the age of eight . Older pupils work in the two prep school buildings, the 'New Block' which is the main...
, near Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, and Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
(Lockites) in Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and then at St John's College
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
.
Life and career
Raphael won an OscarAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for the screenplay for the 1965 movie Darling, and two years later received an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for his screenplay for Two for the Road. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1967 film adaptation of Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's Far From the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)
Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
directed by John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
.
His articles and book reviews appear in a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
. He has published more than twenty novels, the best-known being the semi-autobiographical The Glittering Prizes
The Glittering Prizes
The Glittering Prizes is a British television drama about the changing lives of a group of Cambridge students, starting in 1953 and following them through to middle age in the 1970s. It was first broadcast on BBC2 in 1976.-Cast:...
(1976), which traces the lives of a group of Cambridge University undergraduates in post-war Britain as they move through university and into the wider world. The original six-part BBC television series, from which the book was adapted, won him a Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
Writer of the Year Award. Fame and Fortune, which continues the story to 1979, was adapted in 2007 and broadcast on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, television channels having refused to commission the sequel themselves. In 2010, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a further sequel in a series entitled Final Demands, with Tom Conti
Tom Conti
Thomas "Tom" Conti is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.-Early life:Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious...
as Adam Morris, the central character, bringing the story to the late 1990s.
Raphael has also published several history books, collections of essays and translations. He has also written biographies of Somerset Maugham and Lord Byron. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
in 1964.
In 1999, Raphael published Eyes Wide Open, a memoir of his collaboration with the director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
on the screenplay of Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 drama film based upon Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Traumnovelle . The film was directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, and was his last film. The story, set in and around New York City, follows the sexually-charged adventures of Dr...
, Kubrick's final movie. Upon its publication, the book was publicly discredited by several of Kubrick's friends and family members, among them Christiane Kubrick
Christiane Kubrick
Christiane Kubrick is a German actress, dancer, painter and singer. She was born into a theatrical family, and was the wife of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick from 1958 until his death in 1999.-Biography:...
, Jan Harlan
Jan Harlan
Jan Harlan is a film producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick's widow. He was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on May 5, 1937....
, Michael Herr
Michael Herr
Michael Herr is a writer and former war correspondent, best known as the author of Dispatches , a memoir of his time as a correspondent for Esquire magazine during the Vietnam War...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
. Studio executives at Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
responded to the book's publication by refusing to allow Raphael to attend the Eyes Wide Shut premiere.
That same year, Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
also published a new translation of Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
's Dream Story
Dream Story
Rhapsody: A Dream Novel, also known as Dream Story, is a 1926 novella by the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler. It details the thoughts and psychological transformations of Doctor Fridolin over a two-day period. In this short time, he meets many people who give a clue to the world Schnitzler is...
, the basis for Eyes Wide Shut, featuring an introduction by Raphael.
He married Sylvia Betty Glatt on January 17, 1955 and their children are Paul Simon a film producer, Sarah Natasha
Sarah Raphael
Sarah Natasha Raphael was an English artist best known for her portraits and draughtsmanship.-Early life:...
(1960–2001) who was a painter, and Stephen Matthew Joshua a screenwriter.
Fiction
- Obbligato 1956
- The Earlsdon Way 1958
- The Limits of Love 1960
- A Wild Surmise 1961
- The Graduate Wife 1962
- The Trouble with England 1962
- Lindmann 1963
- Orchestra and Beginners 1967
- Like Men Betrayed 1970
- Who Were You With Last Night? 1971
- April, June and November 1972
- Richard’s Things 1973
- California Time 1975
- The Glittering PrizesThe Glittering PrizesThe Glittering Prizes is a British television drama about the changing lives of a group of Cambridge students, starting in 1953 and following them through to middle age in the 1970s. It was first broadcast on BBC2 in 1976.-Cast:...
1976 - Oxbridge BluesOxbridge BluesOxbridge Blues is a British television mini-series, produced by the BBC and first shown in 1984. It is an anthology of seven 75-minute teleplays, most of which focus on relationships of one kind or another...
1979 - After the War 1990
- Fame and Fortune (sequel to The Glittering PrizesThe Glittering PrizesThe Glittering Prizes is a British television drama about the changing lives of a group of Cambridge students, starting in 1953 and following them through to middle age in the 1970s. It was first broadcast on BBC2 in 1976.-Cast:...
) 2007 - Final demands (sequel to Fame and fortuneFame and FortuneFame And Fortune is the seventh album by Bad Company, released in 1986.The first Bad Company album released by the reformed Bad Company. Released in 1986, the album features original members Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke , with the addition of new frontman Brian Howe substituting for original...
) 2010 - A Thousand Kisses 2011
Nonfiction
- Somerset Maugham and his World 1976
- The Poems of Catullus (with Kenneth McLeish) 1979
- The List of Books: A library of over 3000 works (with Kenneth McLeish) Harmony Books, New York, 1981. ISBN 0-517-540177.
- The Necessity of Anti-semitism 1998
- Eyes Wide Open 1999
- Personal Terms 2001
- The Benefit of Doubt: Essays 2003
- A Spoilt Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood 2003
- Rough Copy: Personal Terms 2 2004
- Cuts and Bruises: Personal Terms 3 2006
- Some Talk of Alexander: A Journey Through Space and Time in the Greek World 2006
- Ifs and Buts (journals) 2011
- How Stanley Kubrick Met His Waterloo 2011
Screenplays (partial list)
- Nothing But the Best 1964
- Darling 1965
- Far from the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
1967 - Two for the Road 1967
- Daisy MillerDaisy Miller (1974 film)Daisy Miller is a 1974 American drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The screenplay by Frederic Raphael is based on the 1878 novella of the same title by Henry James.-Plot synopsis:...
1974 - The King's WhoreThe King's WhoreThe King's Whore is a 1990 drama film directed by Axel Corti. It was entered into the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:Set in the 17th-century, an Italian nobleman weds an impoverished countess, who is wooed by the King of Piedmont and faces pressure from his entire court to succumb to his...
(1990) - Eyes Wide ShutEyes Wide ShutEyes Wide Shut is a 1999 drama film based upon Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Traumnovelle . The film was directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, and was his last film. The story, set in and around New York City, follows the sexually-charged adventures of Dr...
1999 - Coast to CoastCoast to Coast (TV film)Coast to Coast is 2003 television movie starring Richard Dreyfuss, Judy Davis, and Selma Blair, and directed by Paul Mazursky. It is based on the novel by Frederic Raphael, who also wrote film's screenplay...
2003