Rowan Atkinson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson promoting the film Bean in 1997
Born	January 6, 1955 (1955-01-06) (age 53) Consett, County Durham
Influences	Peter Sellers, Charlie Chaplin
Influenced	Steve Pemberton
Spouse	Sunetra Sastry (1990-)
BAFTA Awards
Best Light Entertainment Performance 1981 Not the Nine O'Clock News 1990 Blackadder Goes Forth Best Light Entertainment Performance Nominated: 1994 Mr Bean 1992 Mr Bean 1988 Blackadder The Third 1983 Not the Nine O'Clock News Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Nominated: 1992 Mr Bean

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English comedian, actor and writer, famous for his title roles in the British television comedies Blackadder and Mr. Bean. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy,^[1] and amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.^[2]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Television 2.2 Film 2.3 Comedic style 2.4 Stage 3 Personal life 3.1 Marriage and children 3.2 Politics 3.3 Cars 4 Television appearances 5 Filmography 6 Live Show 7 Discography 7.1 Albums 7.2 Compilations 8 Awards 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Early life

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born in Consett, County Durham in 1955.^[3] His parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and his wife Ella May (née Bambridge), who married on 29 June 1945.^[3] He has two elder brothers, Rodney Atkinson, a eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the United Kingdom Independence Party leadership election in 2000, and Rupert Atkinson.^[4][5]

Atkinson was raised Anglican.^[6] He was educated at Durham Choristers School, followed by St Bees School, and studied electrical engineering at Newcastle University.^[7] He continued with an MSc at The Queen's College, Oxford, first achieving notice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1976.^[7] At Oxford, he also acted and performed early sketches for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), the Oxford Revue and the Experimental Theatre Club (ETC), meeting writer Richard Curtis^[7] and composer Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate during his career.

[edit] Career

[edit] Television

After university, Atkinson toured with Angus Deayton as his straight man in an act that was eventually filmed for a television show. After the success of the show, he did a one-off pilot for ITV in 1979 called Canned Laughter. Atkinson then went on to do Not the Nine O'Clock News, produced by his friend John Lloyd. He starred on the show along with Pamela Stephenson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, and was one of the main sketch writers.

The success of Not the Nine O'Clock News led to his starring in the medieval sitcom The Black Adder, which he also co-wrote with Richard Curtis, in 1983. Despite a mixed reception, a second series was written, this time by Curtis and Ben Elton, and first screened in 1985. Blackadder II followed the fortunes of one of the descendants of Atkinson's original character, this time in the Elizabethan era. The same pattern was repeated in two sequels Blackadder the Third (1987) (set in the Regency era), and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) (set in World War I). The Blackadder series went on to become one of the most successful BBC situation comedies of all time, spawning longer television specials including Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) and Blackadder: The Cavalier Years (1988).

Atkinson's other famous creation, the hapless Mr. Bean, first appeared on New Years Day in 1990 in a half-hour special for Thames Television. The character of Mr. Bean has been likened somewhat to a modern-day Charlie Chaplin. During this time, Atkinson appeared at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal in 1987 and 1989. Several sequels to Mr. Bean appeared on television in the 1990s, and it eventually made into a major motion picture in 1997. Entitled Bean, it was directed by Mel Smith, his former co-star from Not the Nine O'Clock News. A second movie was released in 2007 entitled Mr. Bean's Holiday.

Atkinson has fronted campaigns for Hitachi electrical goods, Fujifilm, and Give Blood. Most famously, he appeared as a hapless and error-prone espionage agent in a long-running series for Barclaycard, on which character his title role in Johnny English was based. In May 2008 he appeared in the BBC documentary series Comedy Map of Britain.

[edit] Film

Atkinson's film career began in 1983 with a supporting part in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again and a leading role in Dead on Time with Nigel Hawthorne. He appeared in former Not the Nine O'Clock News co-star Mel Smith's directorial debut The Tall Guy in 1989. He also appeared alongside Anjelica Huston and Mai Zetterling in Roald Dahl's The Witches in 1990. In 1993 he played the part of Dexter Hayman in Hot Shots! Part Deux, a parody of Rambo III starring Charlie Sheen.

Atkinson, with his turn as a verbally bumbling vicar, gained further recognition in the 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral. That same year he featured in Walt Disney's The Lion King as Zazu the Hornbill. Atkinson continued to appear in supporting roles in successful comedies, including Rat Race (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), and Love Actually (2003).

In addition to his supporting roles, Atkinson has also had success as a leading man. His television character Mr. Bean debuted on the big screen in 1997 with Bean to international success. A sequel, Mr. Bean's Holiday, was released in March 2007 and may be the last time he plays the character.^[8] He has also starred in the James Bond parody Johnny English in 2003. Keeping Mum (2005, released in the U.S. in 2006) was a departure for Atkinson, starring in a straight role.

[edit] Comedic style

One of his better-known trademark comic devices is over-articulation of the "B" sound, such as his pronunciation of "Bob" in a Blackadder episode.

Atkinson's style is often visually-based. This visual style, which has been compared to Charlie Chaplin, sets Atkinson apart as most modern television and film comedies rely heavily on dialogue, and stand-up comedy is mostly based on monologues. This talent for visual comedy has led to Atkinson being called "the man with the rubber face".

[edit] Stage

In early 2008 it was confirmed that Atkinson would fulfil a lifelong ambition and take on the role of Fagin in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver! which will be produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh. He was quoted as saying, "In the 1980s I enjoyed doing a lot of West End theatre and since then have been distracted very much by Mr Bean and film-making. I had been thinking for some time about returning to the stage, and the idea of the role of Fagin has long intrigued me. I even had the part in a school production."^[9] The production will open in early December 2008. The roles of Nancy and Oliver will be selected by the British public in a TV reality competition on the show I'd Do Anything.

[edit] Personal life

[edit] Marriage and children

Atkinson married Sunetra Sastry in 1990, having met her professionally on the set of Blackadder. They married quietly at the Russian Tea Room in New York City, U.S., with Stephen Fry acting as the best man. The couple have two children, Lily and Benjamin, and live in the Northamptonshire village of Apethorpe in England.

[edit] Politics

In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the UK's most prominent actors and writers, including Nicholas Hytner and Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill — on the grounds that the Bill would give religious groups a "weapon of disproportionate power" whose threat would engender a culture of self-censorship among artists.

[edit] Cars

With an estimated wealth of £100 million, Atkinson is able to indulge his passion for cars that began with driving his mother's Morris Minor around the family farm. He has written for the British magazines Car and Evo.

Atkinson also holds a UK LGV licence, gained because lorries held a fascination for him, and to ensure employment as a young actor.

A lover of and participant in car racing, he appeared as racing driver Henry Birkin in the television play Full Throttle in 1995. In 1991, he starred in the self-penned Driven Man, a series of sketches featuring Atkinson driving around London trying to solve his car-fetish, and discussing it with taxi drivers, policemen, used-car salesmen and psychotherapists.^[10]

Atkinson's car collection is dominated by Aston Martins, including the DB7 Vantage used in Johnny English. His Aston Martin V8 Zagato, featuring a novelty registration plate, was driven by his character Dexter in the film The Tall Guy. Atkinson was cited for speeding in the car, just as his character was in the movie. He also received a driving ban as a result of the incident.^[11] He also races in his V8 Zagato, from which he escaped unhurt after crashing it into a barrier at an Aston Martin Owners Club event in Croft Circuit in 2001. He is reported to have placed an advanced order for a Morgan Aero Max, which costs £110,000.^{[citation needed]}

Atkinson has raced in other cars, including a Renault 5 GT Turbo for two seasons for its one make series. He owns one McLaren F1, which was involved in an accident with an Austin Metro.^[12] Other cars he owns include an Audi A8,^[13] a Honda Civic Hybrid^[14], and a Bugatti Veyron.

One car he will not own is a Porsche: "I have a problem with Porsches. They're wonderful cars, but I know I could never live with one. Somehow, the typical Porsche people — and I wish them no ill — are not, I feel, my kind of people. I don't go around saying that Porsches are a pile of dung, but I do know that psychologically I couldn't handle owning one."^[15] He appeared to relent from this position when reviewing a Porsche 965 for Car magazine in the early 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Television appearances

• The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), a charity special for Amnesty International
• Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982)
• Blackadder as Prince Edmund (Series 1), Lord Blackadder (Series 2), Edmund Blackadder (Series 3 & 4) & Ebenezer Blackadder (Blackadder's Christmas Carol) (1983-1989)
• Mr. Bean as Mr. Bean (1989–1995, 1997, 2002, 2007)
• Bernard and the Genie as Bernard's Boss (1991) (TV movie)
• Funny Business (1992), a documentary about the craft of comedy
• The Thin Blue Line as Inspector Raymond Fowler(1995–1996)
• The Comic Relief Red Nose Day telecasts, including appearing in:
  • Blackadder: The Cavalier Years as Edmund Blackadder (1988)
  • Mr Bean's Red Nose Day as Mr Bean (1991)
  • (I Wanna Be) Elected as Mr Bean (1992)
  • Blind Date with Mr Bean as Mr Bean (1993)
  • Torvill and Bean as Mr Bean (1995)
  • "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death" as The Doctor (1999)
  • Popsters as Nasty Neville (2001)
  • Lying to Michael Jackson as Martin Bashir (2003)
  • Spider-Plant Man as Peter Piper and Spider-Plant Man (2005)
  • Mr. Bean's Holiday as Mr Bean (2007)

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1981	Fundamental Frolics	Himself
	The Secret Policeman's Ball	Various Roles
1982	The Secret Policeman's Other Ball	Himself & Various Roles
1983	Dead on Time	Bernard Fripp
	Never Say Never Again	Nigel Small-Fawcett
1989	The Appointments of Dennis Jennings	Dr. Schooner
	The Tall Guy	Ron Anderson
1990	The Witches	Mr. Stringer
1993	Hot Shots! Part Deux	Dexter Hayman
1994	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Father Gerald
	The Lion King	Zazu (voice)
1997	Bean	Mr. Bean
2000	Maybe Baby	Mr. James
2001	Rat Race	Enrico Pollini
2002	Scooby-Doo	Emile Mondavarious
2003	Johnny English	Johnny English
	Love Actually	Rufus
2005	Keeping Mum	Reverend Walter Goodfellow
2007	Mr. Bean's Holiday	Mr. Bean

[edit] Live Show

• Rowan Atkinson Live (2007), a DVD release of a filmed 1991 performance in Boston

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Rowan Atkinson Live in Belfast (1980, re-released 1996)
• Not Just a Pretty Face (1987, re-released 1994)

[edit] Compilations

• The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)
• Not The Nine O'Clock News – The Album (1980)
• We Are Most Amused: The Best of British Comedy (1981)

[edit] Awards

• Variety Club Award for BBC Personality of the Year - 1980^[16]
• BAFTA Best Light Entertainment Performance - 1989^[16]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rowan Atkinson at the Internet Movie Database
• Rowan Atkinson biography at BFI Screenonline
• Interview in the Scotsman newspaper
• Interview for McLaren Group re his love for cars

v • d • e Mr. Bean Episode list Writers/performers Rowan Atkinson · Richard Curtis · Robin Driscoll · Ben Elton Crew Howard Goodall · Matilda Ziegler · John Howard Davies · Mel Smith · Steve Bendelack Related media Animated series · Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie · Mr. Bean's Holiday

v • d • e Blackadder Series The Black Adder · Blackadder II · Blackadder the Third · Blackadder Goes Forth Specials Pilot episode · Blackadder: The Cavalier Years · Blackadder's Christmas Carol · Blackadder: Back & Forth Others List of Blackadder episodes · List of characters in Blackadder · List of minor Blackadder characters

Persondata
NAME	Atkinson, Rowan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Atkinson, Rowan Sebastian
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Comedian, actor, writer
DATE OF BIRTH	6 January 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH	Consett, County Durham, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH