Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter CH CBE (10 October 1930 โ 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993), and Sleuth (2007). He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works. Pinter was born and raised in Hackney, east London, and educated at Hackney Downs School. He was a sprinter and a keen cricket player, acting in school plays and writing poetry. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but did not complete the course. He was fined for refusing national service as a conscientious objector. Subsequently, he continued training at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in repertory theatre in Ireland and England. In 1956 he married actress Vivien Merchant and had a son, Daniel, born in 1958. He left Merchant in 1975 and married author Lady Antonia Fraser in 1980. Pinter's career as a playwright began with a production of The Room in 1957. His second play, The Birthday Party, closed after eight performances, but was enthusiastically reviewed by critic Harold Hobson. His early works were described by critics as "comedy of menace". Later plays such as No Man's Land (1975) and Betrayal (1978) became known as "memory plays". He appeared as an actor in productions of his own work on radio and film. He also undertook a number of roles in works by other writers. He directed nearly 50 productions for stage, theatre and screen. Pinter received over 50 awards, prizes, and other honours, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005 and the French Lรฉgion d'honneur in 2007. Despite frail health after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2001, Pinter continued to act on stage and screen, last performing the title role of Samuel Beckett's one-act monologue Krapp's Last Tape, for the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Court Theatre, in October 2006. He died from liver cancer on 24 December 2008. Description above from the Wikipedia article Harold Pinter, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Known For
Credits
- 2023 ยทMad About the Boy: The Noรซl Coward Storyas Self (archive footage)
- 2010 ยทHarold Pinter: A Celebrationas Self (archive footage)
- 2007 ยทSleuthas Man on T.V.
- 2007 ยทKrapp's Last Tapeas Krapp
- 2006 ยทArt, Truth and Politicsas self
- 2004 ยทThe Culture Showas Self
- 2001 ยทCatastropheas The Director
- 2001 ยทOne for the Roadas Nicolas
- 2001 ยทThe Tailor of Panamaas Uncle Benny
- 2001 ยทWitas Mr. Bearing
- 1999 ยทMansfield Parkas Sir Thomas Bertram
- 1999 ยทAgainst the Waras himself
- 1997 ยทMojoas Sam Ross
- 1997 ยทMichael Redgrave: My Fatheras Self
- 1996 ยทBreaking the Codeas John Smith
- 1987 ยทThe Birthday Partyas Nat Goldberg
- 1985 ยทTurtle Diaryas Man in Bookshop
- 1985 ยทTheatre Nightas Goldberg
- 1981 ยทPoets Against the Bombas
- 1981 ยทThe South Bank Show: The French Lieutenant's Womanas Self - Interviewee
- 1978 ยทLangrishe, Go Downas Barry Shannon
- 1978 ยทThe South Bank Showas Self
- 1976 ยทRogue Maleas Saul Abrahams
- 1970 ยทThe Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmeras Steven Hench
- 1969 ยทLast to Goas
- 1967 ยทThe Basementas Stott
- 1967 ยทNBC Experiment in Televisionas Self / (voice)
- 1967 ยทAccidentas Bell - TV Producer
- 1964 ยทIn Cameraas Garcin
- 1964 ยทThe Caretakeras Man
- 1963 ยทThe Servantas People in Restaurant: Society Man
- 1962 ยทThis Week in Britain #199: The Caretakeras Self
- 1960 ยทA Night Outas Seeley
- 1956 ยทTony Awardsas Self - Nominee