Kenneth Branagh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kenneth Branagh | |
Branagh (right) as the King in Henry V |
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Birth name | Kenneth Charles Branagh |
Born | December 10, 1960 (age 46) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Spouse(s) | Lindsay Brunnock (2003-present) Emma Thompson (1989-1995) |
Emmy Awards | |
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Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie 1995 Conspiracy |
Kenneth Charles Branagh (b. December 10, 1960) is an Emmy Award-winning Northern Irish-born British actor and film director.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Branagh was born in Belfast, where he was educated at Grove Primary School. At age nine he relocated with his family to Reading in England. He is a recipient of an honourary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990.[citation needed] 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 series known as the Billy Plays, written by Graham Reid and set in Belfast. He has worked on both stage and screen. He received initial acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, including the title role in Hamlet. More recently, in 2003, he starred in the Royal National Theatre's production of David Mamet's Edmond.
Branagh is probably best known for his film adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V in 1989, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Love's Labour's Lost, Hamlet, with As You Like It following in 2006. His 1996 film version of Hamlet was the first ever to include the complete unabridged text of the play with over four hours and four thousand lines of dialogue.[citation needed]
Branagh has also been involved in several made-for-TV films. Among his most acclaimed portrayals is that of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in the 2005 film Warm Springs. Though the film received sixteen Emmy nominations—winning five—Branagh did not win the award for his nomination. He did, however, receive an Emmy award for his performance in the 2001 TV Conspiracy, a depiction of the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials conceived the Final Solution. Branagh's award winning performance was for the part of Reinhard Heydrich.
Branagh has also been nominated for four Academy Awards. His first, for direction in the 1992 film Swan Song, two for Henry V (one each for directing and acting), and again for his work on the screenplay of Hamlet in 1996. Included amongst his many other accolades is a nomination for “worst” supporting actor Razzie in 1999 for his perfomance in the film Wild Wild West.
Branagh has co-starred several times with actress Emma Thompson, to whom he was married from 1989 to 1995. They appeared together in Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Dead Again, and Peter's Friends. For several years he was in a well-publicised relationship with Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he also starred and directed in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In 2003 he married film art director Lindsay Brunnock, to whom he was introduced by Carter in 1997.[1]
In 1990, at age 30, Branagh authored an autobiography, which he entitled Beginning,[2] and has narrated several audio books such as The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis.[3]
In 1994, Branagh declined an appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
- Co-founder of the Renaissance Theatre Company.
- Cast in the lead role of the film Amadeus until the production company decided to hire American actors instead.
- Branagh was the youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (also known as the Gielgud Award) in 2000.
- He is a Member of the RADA Council.
- During pre-production of the Star Wars prequel films, there was speculation that he was being considered for the role of Obi-wan Kenobi.
- He received an honorary doctorate in Literature from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990.
- He is Honorary President of NICVA the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action.
- He was considered for the role of Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs.
- Speaks Italian.
- Was the object of a scathing joke in the film Blackadder: Back & Forth. During a visit to Elizabethan England, time-travelling Lord Blackadder has a chance meeting with William Shakespeare himself (played by Colin Firth). He violently assaults the playwright in retaliation for, among other things, "Ken Branagh's endless, uncut, four-hour version of Hamlet." When Shakespeare asks "Who's Ken Branagh?" Blackadder replies "I'm going to tell him you said that. And I think he'll be very hurt."
- Is a lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.[4]
- Was an interesting choice to direct the remake of Sleuth (1972). That film was released on his 12th birthday.
- Was referenced along with Laurence Olivier in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Defector. the episode opens with a performance of a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V with Data playing the title role. When Captain Jean-Luc Picard compliments his performance, Data responds by saying he studied Branagh's performance.
- Both he and his ex-wife Emma Thompson have had minor roles in the Harry Potter movie francise: Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart and Thompson as Sybill Trelawney.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Selected Filmography (actor)
- A Month in the Country (1988) as James Moon
- Henry V (1989) as Henry V
- Dead Again (1991) as Mike Church, P.I.
- Peter's Friends (1992)
- Swing Kids (1993) as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
- Much Ado About Nothing (1993) as Benedick
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) as Dr. Victor Frankenstein
- Othello (1995) as Iago
- Hamlet (1996) as Hamlet
- The Gingerbread Man (1998)
- The Theory of Flight (1998)
- Celebrity (1998) as Lee Simon
- Wild Wild West (1999) as Dr. Arliss Loveless
- The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice)
- Love's Labour's Lost (2000) as Berowne
- Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) as A. O. Neville
- How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart
- Warm Springs (2005) as Franklin D. Roosevelt
[edit] Filmography (director)
- Henry V (1989)
- Dead Again (1991)
- Swan Song (1992, short) starring John Gielgud
- Peter's Friends (1992)
- Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
- A Midwinter's Tale (1996)
- Hamlet (1996)
- Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
- Listening (2003 short)
- The Magic Flute (2006), based on the Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte
- As You Like It (2006)
- Sleuth (2008)
[edit] Television
- To the Lighthouse (1983)
- Ghosts (1986)
- Fortunes of War (1987)
- Conspiracy (2001) as Reinhard Heydrich
- Shackleton (2002) as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
[edit] Narrator
- Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (Six-part TV special) (1996)
- Cold War (TV series) (1996)
- Great Composers (TV mini-series) (1997)
- The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
- Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
- The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
- Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs (TV series) (2005)
- The Science of Walking with Beasts (Australia) (Two-part TV special) (2001)
- The Ballad of Big Al (UK version) (TV special) (2001)
- Walking with Beasts (UK version) (TV series) (2001)
- Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs (TV series) (2005)
[edit] Discography
- Shakespeare's Richard III (complete) for Naxos Audiobooks
- Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (recitant) live recording for Sony Classical, conducted by Claudio Abbado
[edit] References
- ^ Kenneth Branagh Biography. Tiscali UK. Retrieved on January 17, 2007.
- ^ Branagh, Kenneth (1990). Beginning. W W Norton & Co Inc. ISBN 0393028623.
- ^ Kenneth Branagh Book Search. AddALL.com. Retrieved on January 15, 2007.
- ^ Kenneth Branagh on Tottenham Hotspur. Guardian Unlimited (May 23, 2000). Retrieved on January 11, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Kenneth Branagh at the Internet Movie Database
- The Kenneth Branagh Compendium
- Kenneth Branagh interview from Premiere (1996)
- Information regarding Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet
- The Periwig Maker (One-off animation) (2000)
- Kenneth Branagh interviewed by Ginny Dougary (1992)
Shakespearean films directed by Kenneth Branagh |
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Henry V (1989) • Much Ado About Nothing (1993) • Hamlet (1996) • Love's Labour's Lost (2000) • As You Like It (2006) |
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1960 births | Living people | Emmy Award winners | Venice Best Director Silver Lion winners | British film directors | British stage actors | British film actors | Shakespearean actors | Northern Irish Anglicans | People from Belfast | Northern Irish actors | Northern Irish screenwriters | People of Irish descent in Great Britain | People who have declined a British honour | People from Reading, Berkshire | Royal Shakespeare Company members | English-language film directors