Ray Cooney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ray Cooney (born 1932) is an English playwright and actor, sometimes known as "the master of farce". His biggest success, Run For Your Wife, lasted nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy.[1] He has had 17 of his plays performed there.[2]
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[edit] Biography
Cooney began acting in 1946, and appeared in many of Brian Rix's "Whitehall farces" throughout the fifties and sixties. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play One For The Pot which was, according to Cooney, "immediately successful".
Other works by Cooney include Not Now Darling, Move Over Mrs Markham, Wife Begins at Forty, Two into One and its sequel Out of Order, It Runs in the Family, a sequel to Run For Your Wife entitled Caught in the Net and Funny Money. He recently co-wrote a farce with his son Michael, Tom, Dick and Harry. Cooney's farces combine a traditional British bawdiness with structural complication, as characters leap to assumptions, are forced to pretend to be things that they aren't, and often talk at cross-purposes to hilarious effect.
In 1983, Cooney created the Theatre of Comedy Company and became its artistic director. During his tenure it produced over twenty plays such as Pygmalion starring Peter O'Toole and John Thaw, Loot and Run For Your Wife.
Cooney has also appeared on TV and in several movies, including a movie adaptation of Not Now Darling, which he co-wrote with John Chapman.
In 2005, Cooney was awarded an O.B.E. in recognition of his services to drama.[3]
[edit] Trivia
His name is referenced in Little Britain by the character "Ray McCooney".
His son Michael Cooney is a screenwriter and wrote the original screenplay for the film Identity starring John Cusack.
