Richard Eyre
Encyclopedia
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE
(born 28 March 1943) is an English
director of film
, theatre
, television
, and opera
.
, an independent school
for boys in the market town
of Sherborne
in north-west Dorset
in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse
at the University of Cambridge
and Lincoln College
at the University of Oxford
. Eyre became the first President of Rose Bruford College
in July 2010. He lives in Brook Green
, West London
.
, Edinburgh
from 1967 to 1972. He won STV Awards for the Best Production in Scotland in 1969, 1970 and 1971. He was artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse
from 1973-78 where he commissioned and directed many new plays, including Trevor Griffith's Comedians.
Eyre was director of the National Theatre (which became the Royal National Theatre
during his time there) between 1987 and 1997, having previously directed a noted revival of Guys and Dolls for the venue in 1982 with Olivier Award-winner Julia McKenzie
and Bob Hoskins
. He repeated this production in 1996 with Imelda Staunton
and Joanna Riding
. His diaries during this time have been published as National Service
and won the 2003 Theatre Book Prize
.
Other than Guys and Dolls, his most noted theatre productions are of Hamlet
(twice), with Jonathan Pryce
at the Royal Court
in 1980 and Daniel Day-Lewis
in 1989; Richard III with Ian McKellen; King Lear
with Ian Holm
; Tennessee Williams
' Night of the Iguana and Sweet Bird of Youth; Eduardo Di Filippo's Napoli Milionaria and Le Grande Magia; John Gabriel Borkman with Paul Scofield
, Vanessa Redgrave
and Eileen Atkins
; Hedda Gabler
with Eve Best
, and numerous new plays by David Hare
, Tom Stoppard
, Trevor Griffiths
, Howard Brenton
, Alan Bennett
, Christopher Hampton
and Nicholas Wright
.
Eyre has also directed operas. His debut was the 1994 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 subsequently been released on video and DVD.
He directed the musical Mary Poppins in London and on Broadway. On 14 February 2007, Eyre's production of Nicholas Wright
's The Reporter premiered at the Royal National Theatre
in London
. The play explores the social climate in the years before James Mossman
's death as well as the reasons for the death itself.
Eyre directed a new production of Bizet's opera Carmen
for the Metropolitan Opera
's 2009-2010 season, starring Latvian mezzo soprano Elina Garanca
and Roberto Alagna
.
Eyre was planning to direct Jon Robin Baitz
's stage adaptation of Hollywood legend Robert Evans' memoirs The Kid Stays in the Picture
and its sequel, The Fat Lady Sang, but the project was cancelled by the producer.
His production of Noël Coward
's Private Lives
starring Kim Cattrall
and Paul Gross
opened on Broadway in November 2011 following a run in Toronto.
of BBC's
Play for Today
between 1978 and 1980. He returned to the BBC in 1988 to direct the Falklands War
story Tumbledown
(starring Colin Firth
), which won him the BAFTA Award for Best Director
and the Prix Italia
. Eyre served on the board of Governors of the BBC
between 1995 and 2003.
Eyre will direct Henry IV, Part 1
and Henry IV, Part 2
for BBC2's Shakespeare Season in 2012.
(starring Judi Dench
, Kate Winslet
and Jim Broadbent
), and Stage Beauty
. Most recently, he directed Notes on a Scandal
, the film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize
-nominated novel by Zoë Heller
, and in 2008, The Other Man
, an adaptation of a short story by Bernhard Schlink
, starring Liam Neeson
, Antonio Banderas
and Laura Linney
.
as The Novice for the Almeida Theatre
.
A friend of Ian Charleson
, whom he directed in acclaimed performances of Guys and Dolls and Hamlet
, Eyre contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.
, and knighted
in the 1997 New Year Honours, receiving the honour on 4 March 1997. He became a Patron of the Alzheimer's Research Trust
in 2001.http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/aboutus/whoweare/people.php?type=Patrons He was made an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters (honoris causa) by the University of Nottingham
on 10 July 2008.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 28 March 1943) is an English
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...
director of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
.
Biography
Eyre was educated at Sherborne SchoolSherborne School
Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
, an independent school
Independent 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...
for boys in the market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
of Sherborne
Sherborne
Sherborne is a market town in northwest Dorset, England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The A30 road, which connects London to Penzance, runs through the town. The population of the town is 9,350 . 27.1% of the population is aged 65 or...
in north-west Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
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...
and Lincoln College
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. Eyre became the first President of Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA and MA degrees, based in Sidcup, Southeast London.-History:Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree...
in July 2010. He lives in Brook Green
Brook Green
Brook Green is an affluent London neighbourhood in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is located approx west of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Kensington, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Holland Park and Brackenbury Village....
, West London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Theatre and opera
Eyre was Associate Director at the Royal Lyceum TheatreRoyal Lyceum Theatre
The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658 seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by architect C. J. Phipps at a cost of UK£17,000 on behalf...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
from 1967 to 1972. He won STV Awards for the Best Production in Scotland in 1969, 1970 and 1971. He was artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse
Nottingham Playhouse
The Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...
from 1973-78 where he commissioned and directed many new plays, including Trevor Griffith's Comedians.
Eyre was director of the National Theatre (which became the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
during his time there) between 1987 and 1997, having previously directed a noted revival of Guys and Dolls for the venue in 1982 with Olivier Award-winner Julia McKenzie
Julia McKenzie
Julia McKenzie is an English actress, singer, and theatre director. She is best-known for her performance in Fresh Fields, but to current television audiences, she is best known for her role as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple...
and Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
. He repeated this production in 1996 with Imelda Staunton
Imelda Staunton
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...
and Joanna Riding
Joanna Riding
Joanna Riding, is an English actress. For her work in West End musicals, she has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for two others.-Biography:...
. His diaries during this time have been published as National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
and won the 2003 Theatre Book Prize
Theatre Book Prize
The Theatre Book Prize was established to celebrate the Jubilee of the Society for Theatre Research , and to encourage writing and publication of books on theatre history and practice—both those that present the theatre of the past and those that record contemporary theatre for the future...
.
Other than Guys and Dolls, his most noted theatre productions are of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(twice), with Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
at the Royal Court
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
in 1980 and Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
in 1989; Richard III with Ian McKellen; King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
with Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
; Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' Night of the Iguana and Sweet Bird of Youth; Eduardo Di Filippo's Napoli Milionaria and Le Grande Magia; John Gabriel Borkman with Paul Scofield
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
and Eileen Atkins
Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...
; Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
with Eve Best
Eve Best
Eve Best is an English actress, best known for her roles as Dr. O'Hara in the Showtime television series Nurse Jackie, as Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech, and Dolley Madison in the 2011 American Experience television special about that First Lady.-Early life and education:Best...
, and numerous new plays by David Hare
David Hare (dramatist)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
, Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
, Trevor Griffiths
Trevor Griffiths
Trevor Griffiths is an English dramatist.Raised as a Roman Catholic, he attended Saint Bede's College, before being accepted into Manchester University in 1952 to read English...
, Howard Brenton
Howard Brenton
-Early years:Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian . He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal...
, Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
, Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
and Nicholas Wright
Nicholas Wright
Nicholas or Nick Wright may refer to:* Sir Nicholas Wright , English academic* Nick Wright , English footballer* Nick Wright , English footballer...
.
Eyre has also directed operas. His debut was the 1994 production of La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
which starred Angela Gheorghiu
Angela Gheorghiu
Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano opera singer. Since her professional debut in 1990, she has sung as soprano leading roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden's Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala, and many other opera houses in Europe and the United States...
and was conducted by Sir Georg Solti. This production was televised and has subsequently been released on video and DVD.
He directed the musical Mary Poppins in London and on Broadway. On 14 February 2007, Eyre's production of Nicholas Wright
Nicholas Wright
Nicholas or Nick Wright may refer to:* Sir Nicholas Wright , English academic* Nick Wright , English footballer* Nick Wright , English footballer...
's The Reporter premiered at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The play explores the social climate in the years before James Mossman
James Mossman
David James Mossman was a British journalist, broadcaster, a TV reporter, film-maker, interviewer and former MI6 agent with a famously acerbic interviewing style. He once verbally attacked then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson live on air, over his support of US President Lyndon Johnson over the...
's death as well as the reasons for the death itself.
Eyre directed a new production of Bizet's opera Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
for the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
's 2009-2010 season, starring Latvian mezzo soprano Elina Garanca
Elina Garanca
-Biography:Garanča was born in the Latvian city of Riga into a musical family, her father a choral director, mother a lieder singer and singing teacher. Her mother Anita is a professor at the Latvian Academy of Music, an associated professor at the Latvian Academy of Culture, a vocal music teacher...
and Roberto Alagna
Roberto Alagna
Roberto Alagna is a French-Italian tenor. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Early years:Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips...
.
Eyre was planning to direct Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
's stage adaptation of Hollywood legend Robert Evans' memoirs The Kid Stays in the Picture
The Kid Stays in the Picture
The Kid Stays in the Picture is the name of a 1994 autobiography by film producer Robert Evans. It is also the name of a 2002 film adaptation of the book directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen and released by Focus Features and USA Pictures...
and its sequel, The Fat Lady Sang, but the project was cancelled by the producer.
His production of Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
starring Kim Cattrall
Kim Cattrall
Kim Victoria Cattrall is an English actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's...
and Paul Gross
Paul Gross
Paul Michael Gross is a Canadian actor, producer, director, singer and writer born in Calgary, Alberta. He is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the television series Due South as well as his 2008 war film Passchendaele, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in...
opened on Broadway in November 2011 following a run in Toronto.
Television
Eyre worked as both a director and one of the producersTelevision producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
of BBC's
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
between 1978 and 1980. He returned to the BBC in 1988 to direct the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
story Tumbledown
Tumbledown
Tumbledown is a 1988 BBC Television drama film set during the Falklands War.-Synopsis:The film centres on the experiences of Robert Lawrence MC , an officer of the Scots Guards during the Falklands Campaign of 1982. While fighting at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, Lawrence is shot in the head by...
(starring Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
), which won him the BAFTA Award for Best Director
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
and the Prix Italia
Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
. Eyre served on the board of Governors of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
between 1995 and 2003.
Eyre will direct Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
and Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
for BBC2's Shakespeare Season in 2012.
Film
For film, he directed The Ploughman's Lunch (written by Ian McEwan) in 1982, which won the Evening Standard Award for Best Film, Iris, a biopic of writer and philosopher Iris MurdochIris Murdoch
Dame Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious...
(starring Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
, Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
and Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
), and Stage Beauty
Stage Beauty
Stage Beauty is a 2004 British-American-German romantic period drama directed by Richard Eyre. The screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher is based on his play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which was inspired by references to 17th century actor Edward Kynaston made in the detailed private diary kept by...
. Most recently, he directed Notes on a Scandal
Notes on a Scandal (film)
Notes on a Scandal is a 2006 British psychological thriller film, adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Zoë Heller. The screenplay was written by Patrick Marber and the film was directed by Richard Eyre. Many parts of the film were shot in Islington Arts and Media School...
, the film adaptation of the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
-nominated novel by Zoë Heller
Zoë Heller
Zoë Kate Hinde Heller is an English journalist and novelist.-Early life:Heller was born in North London as the youngest of four children of German-Jewish immigrant Lukas Heller, who was a successful screenwriter. Her mother was instrumental in keeping up the Labour Party's "Save London Transport...
, and in 2008, The Other Man
The Other Man (2008 film)
The Other Man is a British-American movie directed by Richard Eyre. It stars Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas as competitors for a woman's love .-Plot:...
, an adaptation of a short story by Bernhard Schlink
Bernhard Schlink
Bernhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He was born in Bethel, Germany, to a German father and a Swiss mother, the youngest of four children. Both his parents were theology students, although his father lost his job as a Professor of Theology due to the Nazis, and had to settle on being a...
, starring Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
, Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
and Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
.
Writing
Eyre has written adaptations of Hedda Gabler and of Sartre's Les Mains SalesLes Mains Sales
Dirty Hands is a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. It was first performed on 2 April 1948 at the Theatre Antoine in Paris, starring François Périer, Marie Olivier and André Luguet...
as The Novice for the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
.
A friend of Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
, whom he directed in acclaimed performances of Guys and Dolls and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Eyre contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.
Awards
He has been the recipient of numerous directing awards including five Olivier Awards. In 1982 he won the Evening Standard Award for Best Director, for Guys and Dolls, and in 1997 for King Lear and Tom Stoppard's Invention of Love. In 1997 he won an Olivier Lifetime Achievement Award, and awards from The Directors' Guild of Great Britain, The South Bank Show, The Evening Standard and The Critics' Circle. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1992 New Year HonoursNew Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the New Year annually in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II...
, and knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the 1997 New Year Honours, receiving the honour on 4 March 1997. He became a Patron of the Alzheimer's Research Trust
Alzheimer's Research Trust
Alzheimer's Research UK is the United Kingdom's leading dementia research charity, founded in 1992 as the Alzheimer’s Research Trust.In February 2011 Alzheimer's Research Trust renamed as the Alzheimer's Research UK...
in 2001.http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/aboutus/whoweare/people.php?type=Patrons He was made an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters (honoris causa) by the University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
on 10 July 2008.