Michael Blakemore, the only director in Tony Award history to win twice in one year, died Sunday, Dec. 10, following a short illness. He was 95.
His death was announced by the London-based United Agents literary and talent agency.
An acclaimed director of both West End and Broadway productions – his formidable credits include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1968), Noises Off (1983), City of Angels (1989), Lettice & Lovage (1990) and The Life (1997), among many others – secured his place in the Tony Award record books by becoming the first, and to date only, director to win twice in one year: In 2000, he won the award for Best Director of a Play for Copenhagen and Best Director of a Musical for the revival of Kiss Me Kate.
Born June 18, 1928, in Sydney, Australia, Blakemore made his directing debut in 1966 at the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. His international breakthrough came in 1967 when...
His death was announced by the London-based United Agents literary and talent agency.
An acclaimed director of both West End and Broadway productions – his formidable credits include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1968), Noises Off (1983), City of Angels (1989), Lettice & Lovage (1990) and The Life (1997), among many others – secured his place in the Tony Award record books by becoming the first, and to date only, director to win twice in one year: In 2000, he won the award for Best Director of a Play for Copenhagen and Best Director of a Musical for the revival of Kiss Me Kate.
Born June 18, 1928, in Sydney, Australia, Blakemore made his directing debut in 1966 at the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. His international breakthrough came in 1967 when...
- 12/13/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“Slave Play” made history back in October when it received 12 Tony Awards nominations, the most ever for a play. Five of those citations recognize members of its stellar ensemble, including a bid in Actress, two in Featured Actor, and two in Featured Actress. While “Slave Play” is the frontrunner for Best Play according to our exclusive Tony Awards predictions, none of its cast will take home trophies. But could an upset be looming?
Though it seems counterintuitive that Tony voters would award a play the top honor without recognizing at least one of its performers, it has happened six times in the past 20 years, including the two most recent. In 2019, Jez Butterworth’s “The Ferryman,” an expansive family drama about The Troubles in Ireland, won the top prize and trophies for Director (Sam Mendes), Scenic Design, and Costume Design, but didn’t pick up awards for its three nominated performers: actor Paddy Considine,...
Though it seems counterintuitive that Tony voters would award a play the top honor without recognizing at least one of its performers, it has happened six times in the past 20 years, including the two most recent. In 2019, Jez Butterworth’s “The Ferryman,” an expansive family drama about The Troubles in Ireland, won the top prize and trophies for Director (Sam Mendes), Scenic Design, and Costume Design, but didn’t pick up awards for its three nominated performers: actor Paddy Considine,...
- 9/22/2021
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
In 2005, when Mads Mikkelsen learned he’d landed the biggest role of his career to date (Le Chiffre, the cunning, villainous banker opposite Daniel Craig’s James Bond in 2006's Casino Royale), he found it difficult to comprehend why those around him were so worked up. “I’d never seen a Bond film at that point,” he says, laughing. Instead of getting excited, Mikkelsen did what comes most natural: he homed in on the task at hand.
“I have the strange ability to shut things out,” Mikkelsen says. “Otherwise you...
“I have the strange ability to shut things out,” Mikkelsen says. “Otherwise you...
- 2/27/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Ok, I'm no match for Roger Moore. But while I'm never shaken, I can be stirred
My favourite James Bond opening sequence occurred in Live and Let Die, which marked the debut of Roger Moore in the role. In it, we see a chap in a soft hat and grey suit (who is later revealed to be a British spy) watching a doleful New Orleans funeral procession led by a brass band. Soon, he is joined by a dapper wee bloke who looks like a Caribbean version of the shopkeeper character in Mr Benn. "Whose funeral is it?" asks the agent. "Yours," says the shopkeeper and duly sinks a flick knife right into the Brit's ribs.
Without breaking stride, the coffin-bearers move over to the prone spy and cover him with the casket. Whereupon the band breaks into a joyous Dixieland bacchanal and gaily clad dudes in jumpsuits and carrying...
My favourite James Bond opening sequence occurred in Live and Let Die, which marked the debut of Roger Moore in the role. In it, we see a chap in a soft hat and grey suit (who is later revealed to be a British spy) watching a doleful New Orleans funeral procession led by a brass band. Soon, he is joined by a dapper wee bloke who looks like a Caribbean version of the shopkeeper character in Mr Benn. "Whose funeral is it?" asks the agent. "Yours," says the shopkeeper and duly sinks a flick knife right into the Brit's ribs.
Without breaking stride, the coffin-bearers move over to the prone spy and cover him with the casket. Whereupon the band breaks into a joyous Dixieland bacchanal and gaily clad dudes in jumpsuits and carrying...
- 11/4/2012
- by Kevin McKenna
- The Guardian - Film News
Royal Court; Lyttelton; Theatre503, London
Every now and then the Royal Court does this. It throws up a small-cast, depth-charge production that makes bigger dramas look over-stuffed and under-nourished. It did so metaphysically with Caryl Churchill's A Number and emotionally with Mike Bartlett's Cock. It has done so again with Nick Payne's wiry new play.
Constellations is a love story that investigates ideas about time. Or it's a look at theories about time that takes the form of a love story. It tells us that we may have no such thing as free will, but leaves its audience to make up its own mind. Following the lead given 14 years ago by Michael Frayn's Copenhagen, in which a scientific theory is demonstrated in the structure of the play that discusses it, Constellations embodies its doubts and questions. It quizzes the notion of destiny by giving alternative versions...
Every now and then the Royal Court does this. It throws up a small-cast, depth-charge production that makes bigger dramas look over-stuffed and under-nourished. It did so metaphysically with Caryl Churchill's A Number and emotionally with Mike Bartlett's Cock. It has done so again with Nick Payne's wiry new play.
Constellations is a love story that investigates ideas about time. Or it's a look at theories about time that takes the form of a love story. It tells us that we may have no such thing as free will, but leaves its audience to make up its own mind. Following the lead given 14 years ago by Michael Frayn's Copenhagen, in which a scientific theory is demonstrated in the structure of the play that discusses it, Constellations embodies its doubts and questions. It quizzes the notion of destiny by giving alternative versions...
- 1/22/2012
- by Susannah Clapp
- The Guardian - Film News
More Dickens and even more Shakespeare, but also new novels from Toni Morrison, Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith, plus exciting new voices – 2012's literary highlights
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
- 1/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Kenneth Branagh is an international star of stage and screen who's as adept at performing Mamet or Stoppard on stage as he is at directing a summer blockbuster like "Thor." In "My Week with Marilyn," Branagh takes on the role of Sir Laurence Olivier, the legendary thespian who directed and starred in "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Marilyn Monroe. It's this production that's at the heart of "Marilyn," as the actress, played by Michelle Williams, struggles with the staid British set, the pressures of working with Olivier and her ongoing personal drama.
So, what's the Shakespeare-trained actor like in person? Branagh's as charming as one would hope, easily chatting about playing the legendary Olivier, the trials and tribulations of directing, and his lifelong love of "Dr. Who."
With you playing Olivier, there's a rabbit hole that you're falling into of the director and the actor who played Hamlet, and so on.
So, what's the Shakespeare-trained actor like in person? Branagh's as charming as one would hope, easily chatting about playing the legendary Olivier, the trials and tribulations of directing, and his lifelong love of "Dr. Who."
With you playing Olivier, there's a rabbit hole that you're falling into of the director and the actor who played Hamlet, and so on.
- 11/22/2011
- by Jenni Miller
- NextMovie
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