The Naked Civil Servant is a 1975 TV film based on the 1968 autobiography by the gay icon Quentin Crisp, also titled The Naked Civil Servant. It stars John Hurt in the title role.
The film was produced by Thames Television for the British Television channel ITV. It was 90 minutes long with John Hurt playing Crisp from youth to middle age. It was directed by Jack Gold, written by Philip Mackie and produced by Verity Lambert, and was originally transmitted on 17 December 1975. In 1976 it was shown on US television channel WOR-TV and later PBS when Thames Television and WOR-TV exchanged programming for one week.[1]
For his performance, Hurt won the BAFTA for Best Actor in 1976. The production also won the 1976 Prix Italia and in 2000 it was placed fourth in a poll by industry professionals to find the BFI TV 100 of the 20th century. The film was released on DVD in 2005.
In 2009 Hurt reprised the role of Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York, which covered the latter years of Crisp's life in New York.[2]