Everett was born in Norfolk, England, on May 29, 1959, rebellious from the start. When he was seven years old he was sent to learn with Benedictine monks, where he trained classically on the piano. He still plays the piano, sings, and is an accomplished writer. He has published three books, and writes for Vanity Fair magazine.
Career Highlights: My Best Friend's Wedding, Another Country, An Ideal Husband
First Major Screen Credit: Another Country (1984)
Biography
A wickedly debonair blend of Cary Grant and Joan Crawford, British actor Rupert Everett almost single-handedly conquered Hollywood with his turn as the man who dances off into the sunset with Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding. As the handsome, elegant, and gay George, Everett (who had been openly gay for some years) ushered in a different kind of gay sensibility in Hollywood, one that, rather than begging audiences for acceptance, flatly told them to get over it.
Born in Norfolk, England, to a wealthy family on May 29, 1959, Everett was sent away for schooling at the age of seven. Taught by Benedictine monks at Amplesforth College, he was a good student and trained to be a classical pianist. After he discovered acting at the age of 15, he dropped out of school and ran off to London, where he supported himself as a prostitute for a couple of years (something he admitted in a 1997 interview with US magazine) and eventually enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Unfortunately, Everett clashed frequently with instructors and eventually dropped out, choosing to flee to Scotland. It was there that he got his first professional job as an apprentice with the Citizen's Theatre of Glasgow, and in the early '80s, his career began to bud. In 1982, he created the role of Guy Bennett for the West End production of Another Country, which also featured a very young Kenneth Branagh. Everett won raves for his portrayal of the younger version of real-life spy Guy Burgess, and in 1984 re-created the role for the play's film version. The following year, he starred with Miranda Richardson in Dance With a Stranger, turning in a strong performance in the critically acclaimed film. Although it seemed Everett's career was on the rise, the actor unfortunately opted for near-nonentity status with his 1987 U.S. film debut in Hearts of Fire, a rock & roll drama co-starring Bob Dylan. Following this flop, Everett disappeared for a while, taking up residence in Paris and writing a semi-autobiographical novel, Hello, Darling, Are You Working?.
In 1991, Everett resurfaced with a lead role in The Comfort of Strangers opposite Natasha Richardson before appearing in 1993's Inside Monkey Zetterland, a film featuring a bizarre title, large ensemble cast (which included Patricia Arquette and Sandra Bernhard), and miserable reviews. Everett's subsequent feature, Prêt-à-Porter (1994), also featured an unconventional title, a large ensemble cast (including Julia Roberts, Sophia Loren, Stephen Rea, and Tim Robbins), and miserable reviews, but in its favor, it also featured a director named Robert Altman. Furthermore, Everett actually managed to make a favorable impression as a philandering fashion house scion, favor that was magnified, during the same year, with his hilarious turn as the fat and lazy Prince of Wales in Nicholas Hytner's The Madness of King George. However, for all of the positive attention he received, Everett incurred only bafflement with his next two films, the Italian schlock-fest Dellamorte, Dellamore (1994) and Dunston Checks In (1996), in which the actor starred with Faye Dunaway and an orangutan.
1997 marked the turning point in Everett's career, as it brought with it his star-making role in My Best Friend's Wedding. The actor caused something of a sensation among male and female filmgoers alike, who wanted more of the handsome actor with the languorous wit. They got more of him the following year, in Shakespeare in Love, in which Everett had a supporting role as playwright Christopher Marlowe, and in B. Monkey, in which he played Jonathan Rhys Meyers' criminal lover. 1999 proved to be a very fruitful year for the actor -- who by this time was being hailed as Hollywood's Gay Prince -- as it featured the actor in leading roles in three films. He first played Oberon in Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he was part of an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, Christian Bale, and Calista Flockhart. Next came Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, for which Everett netted positive reviews in his central role as the delightfully idle Lord Goring. Finally, he camped and vamped it up as the resident villain of Inspector Gadget, once again demonstrating to audiences why it could feel so good to be so bad. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
His break came with the 1982 West End production of Another Country, playing a gay schoolboy opposite Kenneth Branagh, followed by a film version in 1984 with Colin Firth. He began to develop a promising film career, until he co-starred with Bob Dylan in the huge flop Hearts of Fire (1987). Around the same time, Everett recorded and released an album of pop songs, entitled Generation Of Loneliness. Despite being managed by the largely successful pop svengaliSimon Napier-Bell (who also managed Marc Bolan, launched and managed Japan, and steered Wham! to international fame) and the title track reaching the Top 40 in the UK, the public didn't take to his change in direction. The shift was shortlived, and he would only return to pop indirectly by providing backing vocals for his friend Madonna many years later, on her cover of "American Pie" and on the track "They Can't Take That Away from Me" on Robbie Williams' Swing When You're Winning in 2001.
1990s
In 1989 he moved to Paris, writing a novel, Hello, Darling, Are You Working? and coming out as gay, a move which some[who?] at the time perceived as damaging to his career.[citation needed] Returning to the public eye in The Comfort of Strangers (1990), several films of variable success followed. The Italian comics character Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi, is graphically inspired by him. The English actor, in turn, later appeared in an adaptation of a novel based on Sclavi's novel, Dellamorte Dellamore. In 1995 he released a second novel, The Hairdressers of St. Tropez.
His career was revitalised by his award-winning performance in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), playing Julia Roberts's gay friend. In 1999, he played Madonna's gay best friend in The Next Best Thing (he also sang backup on her cover of "American Pie", which is on the film's soundtrack). He has since appeared in a number of high-profile film roles, often playing heterosexual leads.
2000s
Everett attending a speed dating event with When the Music Stops, for Channel 4's The Friday Night Project in July 2007.
Throughout the 2000s, Everett has decided to write again. He has been a Vanity Fair contributing editor and wrote a film screenplay on playwright Oscar Wilde's final years, for which he seeks funding.[6] In 2006, he published a memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins. In it he revealed he had a six-year affair with British television presenterPaula Yates.[7] "I am mystified by my heterosexual affairs — but then I am mystified by most of my relationships," he wrote.[citation needed] Although he is sometimes described as bisexual as opposed to homosexual, at a radio show with Jonathan Ross, he described his heterosexual affairs as resulting from adventurousness: "I was basically adventurous, I think I wanted to try everything"[8] and in an interview on This Morning he simply described himself as homosexual, making a joke of any suggestion he might find a woman attractive.[citation needed]
In May 2007, he delivered one of the eulogies at the funeral of fashionista Isabella Blow, his friend since they were in their teens.
Recent and upcoming projects
Everett will be the presenter in a Channel 4 documentary on Romantic poetLord Byron's travels, due to be broadcast in April 2009[15][16][dead link] and has a part in the upcoming 2009 comedy film Wild Target, starring Bill Nighy. He recently made his Broadway debut at the Shubert Theatre to good critical review, performing in a Noël Coward play, Blithe Spirit, starring alongside Angela Lansbury, Christine Ebersole and Jayne Atkinson, directed by Michael Blakemore.[17][18] He was also expected to tour several Italian cities, during the 2008-2009 winter season in another Noël Coward play Private Lives (performed in Italian, which he speaks fluently), playing Elyot to Italian actress Asia Argento's Amanda, but the production has been postponed until the 2009-2010 season and the announcement did not clarify if Everett will still be part of the cast.[19]
