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Kenneth Branagh

 
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Kenneth Branagh

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Actor:

Kenneth Branagh

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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Dec 10, 1960 in Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • Occupation: Actor, Director, Writer
  • Active: '90s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Peter's Friends, High Season, Henry V
  • First Major Screen Credit: High Season (1987)

Biography

Perhaps the best-known Shakespeare interpreter of the late 20th century, Kenneth Branagh began his career in a golden haze of critical exultation. First a star pupil at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (one of Britain's most prestigious drama schools), then a promising newcomer on the London stage, then hailed as "the next Olivier" for his 1989 screen adaptation of Henry V, Branagh could, for a long time, do no wrong. Unfortunately, a string of bad luck, catalyzed by his disastrous Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in 1994, began to tarnish the halo that had hovered above the actor/director's head. His lavish, four-hour Hamlet in 1996, however, did much to further his status as a man who knew his Bard, helping to alleviate some of the disappointments that both preceded and came after it.

Although his accent suggests otherwise, Branagh originally hails from Northern Ireland, not England. Born in Belfast December 10, 1960, to a working-class family, he was raised in the strife-ridden section of the country until he was nine. Leaving Belfast to escape its troubles, his family relocated to Reading, England, where Branagh spent the remainder of his childhood and adolescence. By turns bookish and athletic -- and assuming an English accent at school while remaining Irish at home -- Branagh became interested in acting at the age of 15, after seeing Derek Jacobi perform Hamlet (the two would later collaborate numerous times both in film and on the stage). Immersing himself in all things theatrical, Branagh was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London when he was 18.

For Branagh, RADA formed the beginning of a brilliant career. The young actor drew repeated acclaim, particularly for his titular performance in a production of Hamlet, and won the school's coveted Bancroft Award for his work. After graduation, he went on to further success on the West End stage, where he starred opposite Rupert Everett in a 1982 production of Another Country. For his portrayal of a conflicted schoolboy, the actor won the Society of West End Theatres' Most Promising Newcomer Award. The following year, he further ascended his adopted country's theatrical ranks, securing a coveted membership in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Branagh continued to enjoy almost consistent critical appreciation during his tenure with the company, garnering particular praise for his lead performance in a production of Henry V. He became increasingly unhappy, however, with the RSC's bureaucratic organization and stuffiness and, in 1987, quit to form the Renaissance Theatre Company with his friend David Parfitt. The idea for the company came to Branagh while he was making the acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Fortunes of War in 1987. That production was one of many he did for television during his time with the RSC, and it was during that period that he met Emma Thompson, whom he married in 1989 and cast in almost all his films until their 1995 divorce.

Although Renaissance struggled at first -- its premiere effort, a production of Public Enemy, met with across-the-board disapproval -- it gained a reputation for quality work, and soon counted such vaunted performers as Judi Dench, Richard Briers, and Derek Jacobi among its ranks, many of whom were later cast in Branagh's directorial debut, Henry V. The 1989 film, a sober, mud-saturated affair that served as a stark contrast to Olivier's 1944 version (which was intended to boost England's national pride), brought Branagh international acclaim and recognition. He was soon being hailed by many a publication as "the next Olivier," a title which he repeatedly stated made him uncomfortable. The next Olivier or not, Branagh was nominated for Best Director and Best Actor Oscars for his work, and went on to win other honors, including British Academy and National Board of Review Best Director awards.

Riding high on this success, Branagh rather cheekily published his autobiography, Beginning, at the advanced age of 28. Although it was labeled a little premature and more than a little ego-driven, the book further played into his mystique, which was heightened in 1991 with his Hollywood debut. That year, he directed and starred opposite Thompson in Dead Again, a stylish, Hitchcock-inspired romantic thriller. The film was both a critical and commercial success, and the two were soon being labeled "the royal couple of British cinema." Branagh's next effort, the 1992 ensemble comedy Peter's Friends, was of comparatively lackluster character. Starring Branagh, Thompson, co-writer Rita Rudner, and comedians Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, it received some positive reviews, but was largely regarded as a disappointment. Fortunately for Branagh, he had better luck that year with the Bard, turning out a sun-soaked, giddy adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, which found favor with audiences and critics alike. That same year, he garnered additional acclaim, directing the short film Swan Song and winning an Best Live Action Short Academy Award nomination for his work.



Things began to go badly in 1994 with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which Branagh both directed and cast himself as the mad doctor. Winning a dubious honor as one of the year's worst movies, Frankenstein had many doubting the director's hitherto golden touch. An adaptation of Othello the following year, in which Branagh was cast as Iago in Oliver Parker's directorial debut, received a similarly lackluster reception. Branagh's other film that year, In the Bleak Midwinter, went largely unseen, though he bounced back to a degree the following year with his all-star, uncut, 1996 adaptation of Hamlet. Clocking in at four hours and featuring a peroxided Branagh as the Danish prince, Julie Christie as Gertrude, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, Derek Jacobi as Claudius, and such actors as Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, and Jack Lemmon in other roles, it was hardcore Shakespeare for the masses. Although many potential audience members were scared off by the film's length, it won a number of positive reviews, and Branagh garnered a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination.

Unfortunately, Branagh's subsequent efforts met with either disdain or indifference. Falling into the latter category were The Proposition, The Theory of Flight, and Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man, which cast him as, respectively, a priest, an eccentric inventor, and a philandering Southern lawyer. Woody Allen's Celebrity settled thornily into the former category, with Branagh earning almost unanimous critical scorn for his portrayal of the film's neurotic, Allen-esque protagonist. Many critics noted that he seemed to be trying to out-Allen Allen, with unfortunate results. In 1999, Branagh embraced a dastardly, camp sensibility to play the villain in the big-budget Western fantasy Wild Wild West. He did manage to win some of the only positive comments that critics had for the film. Off the screen, he was still keeping busy with Shakespeare, adapting Love's Labour's Lost into a perplexing, '30s-style musical featuring the likes of Alicia Silverstone, Matthew Lillard, and Nathan Lane. A variety of leading roles in better-received features followed in 2002, however, including Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rabbit-Proof Fence, and the TV miniseries Shackleton. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia:

Kenneth Branagh

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Kenneth Branagh

Branagh in July 2009
Born Kenneth Charles Branagh
10 December 1960 (1960-12-10) (age 49)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Occupation Actor/Director
Years active 1981—present
Spouse(s) Emma Thompson (1989-1995)
Lindsay Brunnock (2003-present)

Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December 1960) is a Northern Irish actor and film director.

Contents

Early life

Branagh, the second of three children, was born and brought up in Belfast to working class Protestant parents Frances (née Harper) and William Branagh, a plumber and joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting partitions and suspended ceilings.[1][2] He was educated at Grove Primary School.[3] At the age of nine, he relocated with his family to Reading, Berkshire to escape "the Troubles".[4][5] At school, he affected an English accent to avoid bullying. On his identity today he has said, "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy," and he attributes his "love of words" to his Irishness.[6]

Career

Stage work

Branagh achieved some early measure of success in his native Northern Ireland for his role as the title character in the BBC's Play for Today[7] trilogy known as the Billy Plays (1982-84), written by Graham Reid and set in Belfast.

He received acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, first winning the 1982 SWET Award for Best Newcomer, for his role as Judd in Julian Mitchell's Another Country, immediately after leaving RADA. Branagh was part of the 'new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Bruce Payne and Fiona Shaw. He and David Parfitt founded the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, following success with several productions on the London 'Fringe', including Branagh's full-scale production of Romeo and Juliet at the Lyric Studio, co-starring with Samantha Bond. The first major Renaissance production was Branagh's Christmas 1987 staging of Twelfth Night at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, starring Richard Briers as Malvolio and Frances Barber as Viola, and with an original score by Scottish actor, musician and composer Patrick Doyle, who two years later was to compose the music for Branagh's film adaptation of Henry V. This Twelfth Night was later adapted for television and is now available on DVD.

Branagh became a major presence in the media and on the British stage when Renaissance collaborated with Birmingham Rep for a 1988 touring season of three Shakespeare plays under the umbrella title of Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, which also played a repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. It featured directorial debuts for Judi Dench with Much Ado About Nothing (starring Branagh and Emma Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice), Geraldine McEwan with As You Like It, and Derek Jacobi directing Branagh in the title role in Hamlet, with Sophie Thompson as Ophelia. Critic Milton Shulman of the London Evening Standard wrote: "On the positive side Branagh has the vitality of Olivier, the passion of Gielgud, the assurance of Guinness, to mention but three famous actors who have essayed the role. On the negative side, he has not got the magnetism of Olivier, nor the mellifluous voice quality of Gielgud nor the intelligence of Guinness."[8]

A year later in 1989 Branagh co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance revival of Look Back in Anger. Judi Dench directed both the theatre and television productions, presented first in Belfast then at the London Coliseum and Lyric Theatre.

More recently, in 2002, Branagh starred at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield as Richard III. In 2003 he starred in the Royal National Theatre's production of David Mamet's Edmond. Branagh directed The Play What I Wrote in England in 2001[9] and directed a Broadway production in 2003.[10][11] From September to November 2008, Branagh appeared at Wyndham's Theatre as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard. His performance was lauded as the "performance of the year" by several critics.[12] It won him the Critics' Circle Award for Best Male Performance but did not get him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, to the surprise of critics.[13]

Film work

Branagh at the Roma Fiction Fest in July 2009, where he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award

Branagh is probably best known for his film adaptations of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V (1989), followed by Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), Love's Labour's Lost (2000) and As You Like It (2006). As You Like It premiered in theatres in Europe, but was sent directly to television in the U.S., where it had its U.S. premiere on HBO in August 2007. Although Branagh played Iago in the 1995 film version of Othello, he did not direct the film; it was directed by Oliver Parker. Othello is the one Shakespeare film that Branagh has appeared in which he was directed by someone else.

Notable non-Shakespeare films that Branagh has appeared in include Dead Again (1991) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), both of which he also directed, Wild Wild West (1999), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) and Valkyrie (2008). He starred as Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). He also recently played the Minister, Dormandy, (a parody of PMG Tony Benn) in the film The Boat That Rocked (2009). From 1989 to 1996 Branagh mostly directed his own films, but the commercial and critical failure of Love's Labour's Lost ended his directorial career for a time. Branagh has returned to directing again in recent years, most recently with the thriller Sleuth (2007), a remake of the 1972 film. At a film promotion for Valkyrie Branagh confirmed he would be directing Thor, a film based on the Marvel superhero.[14] Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston began filming in January 2010 for a May 6, 2011 release.[15]

Branagh has narrated several audio books, such as The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis.[16]

Television

Branagh has also been involved in several made-for-TV films. Among his most acclaimed portrayals is that of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film Warm Springs (2005), for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. Though the film received 16 Emmy nominations, winning five (including Best Made-For-Television Film), Branagh did not win the award for his portrayal. He did though, receive an Emmy for his portryal of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in the TV film Conspiracy (2001), a depiction of the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials decided on the Final Solution. In 2002 Branagh starred in the two-part television movie Shackleton, a dramatization of the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's battle for survival, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award and an Emmy.[17] Branagh also narrated the BBC documentaries Walking With Dinosaurs, Walking With Beasts and Walking With Monsters.

Branagh filmed three feature-length adaptations of Henning Mankell's best-selling Wallander crime novels for the BBC in mid-2008. Branagh plays the eponymous Inspector Kurt Wallander and also serves as the executive producer of the series. The three films were broadcast on BBC One in November and December 2008.[18] Branagh won the award for best actor at the 35th Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards (2009). It was his first major television award win in the UK.[19] The highest accolade though was when he received his first BAFTA TV on 26 April 2009 for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series .[20] For his performance in the episode One Step Behind, he was nominated in the Outstanding Actor, Miniseries or Movie category of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.[21] The role has also gained him a nomination for Best Actor at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards.[22]

He is set to star as Matthew Shardlake in a BBC commissioned adaptation of C. J. Sansom's Tudor crime novel Dissolution, which is in the final stages of negotiation.

Personal life

He was married to Emma Thompson from August 20, 1989, until 1995. After he and Thompson divorced, he was in a well-publicised relationship for several years with Helena Bonham Carter, whom he directed and starred with in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In 2003 he married film art director Lindsay Brunnock,[23] to whom he was introduced by Bonham Carter in 1997.[24]

He speaks Italian and is a lifelong supporter of Belfast football team Linfield, as well as Tottenham Hotspur[25] and Glasgow Rangers.

Honours

Branagh has been nominated for four Academy Awards. His first two nominations were for Henry V (one each for directing and acting). He also received similar BAFTA Award nominations for his film work, winning one for his direction. His first BAFTA TV award came in April 2009, for Best Drama Series (Wallander). Branagh's two other Academy Award nominations were for the 1992 film short subject Swan Song and for his work on the screenplay of Hamlet in 1996. Branagh has co-starred several times with actress Emma Thompson, to whom he was married from 1989 to 1995. They appeared together in Look Back In Anger, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Dead Again, and Peter's Friends. More recently, they both appeared in The Boat That Rocked, though with no shared scenes.

He is Honorary President of NICVA (the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action). He received an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990. He is also a patron for the charity Over The Wall.[26]

In 1994, Branagh declined an appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[27]

Branagh was the youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (also known as the Gielgud Award) in 2000.

Alongside Roberto Benigni, he is one of only two non-American actors to be nominated for Oscars for acting, writing and directing and one of eight actors to have achieved this honour. The other six are Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, George Clooney, John Huston and John Cassavetes.

On 10 July 2009, Branagh was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the RomaFictionFest.[28]

Filmography

Actor

Director

Narrator

Discography and audiobooks

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Kenneth Branagh Biography
  2. ^ Kenneth Branagh Biography (1960-)
  3. ^ White, p.2
  4. ^ The Kenneth Branagh Compendium: Conspiracy
  5. ^ White p.3
  6. ^ The Times, 20 February, 2000
  7. ^ White p.17
  8. ^ Quoted in The London Stage in the 20th Century by Robert Tanitch, Haus (2007)
  9. ^ Branagh ready for the next stage - Telegraph
  10. ^ The Play What I Wrote, a CurtainUp London and New York review
  11. ^ Talkin' Broadway Review: The Play What I Wrote
  12. ^ Staff writer (18 September 2008). "Rave reviews for Kenneth Branagh's West End return", inthenews.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 September 2008.
  13. ^ Hoyle, Ben (4 February 2009). "David Tennant and Kenneth Branagh miss out on Olivier nominations", The Times, Times Newspapers. Retrieved on 22 February 2009.
  14. ^ http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/12/13/exclusive-kenneth-branagh-breaks-silence-on-thor-says-casting-talk-is-premature/
  15. ^ "Thor Movie: Principal Photography Starts!". marvel.com. 2010-01-11. http://marvel.com/news/moviestories.10874.thor_movie~colon~_principal_photography_starts~excl~. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
  16. ^ "Kenneth Branagh Book Search". AddALL.com. http://www.addall.com/author/2128343-1. Retrieved 2007-01-15. 
  17. ^ "Shackleton" awards
  18. ^ Killing time
  19. ^ Douglas, Torin (27 March 2009). "Winners - 35th BPG Television and Radio Awards". Broadcasting Press Guild. Retrieved on 27 March 2009.
  20. ^ "Television Awards Nominations 2009". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved on 24 March 2009.
  21. ^ Martin, Lara (16 July 2009). "Emmys Awards 2009: The nominees". Digital Spy. Retrieved on 16 July 2009.
  22. ^ Allen, Kate (7 September 2009). "Coben, Cole, Atkinson vie for crime awards". The Bookseller. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/96297-coben-cole-atkinson-vie-for-crime-awards.html. Retrieved 7 September 2009. 
  23. ^ White p.271
  24. ^ "Kenneth Branagh Biography". Tiscali UK. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/kenneth_branagh_biog/8. Retrieved 2007-01-17. 
  25. ^ "Kenneth Branagh on Tottenham Hotspur". Guardian Unlimited. May 23, 2000. http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,798919,00.html. Retrieved 2007-01-11. 
  26. ^ Over The Wall official website
  27. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/12/21/uk.honors/
  28. ^ Lyman, Eric J. (12 June 2009). "Rome fest to honor Kenneth Branagh". The Hollywood Reporter (Nielsen Business Media). http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/world/news/e3i45a4bf33efc1791735542985374dcf28. Retrieved 13 June 2009. 

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kenneth Branagh
v • d • e
Films directed by Kenneth Branagh
1980s
Henry V (1989)
1990s
Dead Again (1991) · Peter's Friends (1992) · Much Ado About Nothing (1993) · Frankenstein (1994) · A Midwinter's Tale (1995) · Hamlet (1996)
2000s
Love's Labour's Lost (2000) · As You Like It (2006) · The Magic Flute (2006) · Sleuth (2007)
2010s

Thor (2011)
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie

Kenneth Branagh (2001) · Albert Finney (2002) · William H. Macy (2003) · Al Pacino (2004) · Geoffrey Rush (2005) · Andre Braugher (2006) · Robert Duvall (2007) · Paul Giamatti (2008) · Brendan Gleeson (2009)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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