Leeds is home to many talented and successful people. In this article, we will tell you about the famous English playwright, writer, actor and screenwriter Alan Bennett, who was born in this city. Learn more about the life story of this talented man at leedski.com.
Youth and education
Alan Bennett was born in Leeds in 1934. The future writer was educated at the Church of England school and later at Leeds Modern School. Bennett studied Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists. He also studied at Exeter College, Oxford, from which he graduated with a first-class degree in history.
It should be noted that Alan Bennett remained at the university as a junior lecturer of Medieval History for several years. However, in 1960, Alan decided that he wouldn’t be an academician.
Career development
In the 60s of the last century, Bennett gained popularity after his performance at the Edinburgh Festival. Then he tried himself in the film My Father Knew Lloyd George.
Bennett’s first play, Forty Years On, directed by Patrick Garland, was staged in 1968. After that, Alan’s career began to develop thanks to many TV, stage and radio plays, scripts, short stories, novellas and a lot of prose. He also took part in broadcasts and performances as an actor.
Alan also wrote scripts for such TV projects as A Day Out, A Little Outing, Intensive Care, An Englishman Abroad, A Question of Attribution, Talking Heads, etc.
In 1980, Bennett wrote the play Enjoy. It starred Joan Plowright, Colin Blakely, Susan Littler, Philip Sayer and Liz Smith.
Bennett adapted his play The Madness of George III for cinema. The film The Madness of King George received four nominations for the Oscar.
In 1989, he wrote The Lady in the Van. It was an essay in the London Review of Books. In a year, the writer published it in the form of a book. In 1999, Bennett adapted the work into a stage play starring Maggie Smith. In addition, it was broadcast as a radio play on BBC Radio 4 in 2009. However, the story didn’t end there. In 2015, Alan adapted the book for cinema.
In 2009, Nicholas Hytner staged Bennett’s play The Habit of Art at the National Theatre. Three years later, his play People was shown in the same theatre. Later, Bennett wrote an autobiographical play Cocktail Sticks.
In 2018, his comic drama Allelujah! was staged at the Bridge Theatre in London.
What is known about his personal life?
Alan Bennett has a bisexual orientation. He had a relationship with Rupert Thomas, former editor of The World of Interiors magazine, and with his former housekeeper, Anne Davies.
In 1997, Bennett underwent a course of treatment for colorectal cancer. Doctors estimated his chances of survival at less than 50%. Alan thought that he wouldn’t get through it, so he started writing Untold Stories. The writer thought that they would be published posthumously. However, fortunately, the disease receded.
In 2008, Bennett announced that he was donating his entire archive of working papers, unpublished manuscripts, diaries and books to the Bodleian Library.
It should be noted Alan Bennett received many awards and honours, including a BAFTA, four Laurence Olivier Awards, two Tony Awards, an Oscar nomination and the Society of London Theatre Special Award.
This is the success story of the famous English playwright, writer, actor and screenwriter Alan Bennett. We hope that our article was informative and that you learned more information about this famous person.