Ronald Harwood

Infobox Actor
name = Ronald Harwood


imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1934|11|9|df=y
location = Cape Town, South Africa
occupation = Writer, Screenwriter
yearsactive = 1960-"present"
academyawards = Best Adapted Screenplay
2003 "The Pianist"
baftaawards = Best Adapted Screenplay
2007 "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"

Ronald Harwood CBE, (born 9 November 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa) is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Career

Born Ronald Horwitz, Ronald Harwood moved from Cape Town to London in 1951 to pursue a career in the theatre. He changed his name from Horwitz after an English master told him it was too foreign and too Jewish for a stage actor. [Walker, Tim [http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/22859/in-praise-of-the-patriotic-playwright.thtml "In Praise of the Patriotic Playwright"] , The Spectator, June 14, 2006] After training for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he joined the Shakespeare Company of Sir Donald Wolfit. From 1953 to 1958, Harwood was Sir Donald's personal dresser. He would later draw on this experience when he wrote the stage play, "The Dresser", and the biography: "Sir Donald Wolfit CBE: His life and work in the Unfashionable Theatre". In 1959, after leaving the Wolfit company. he joined the 59 Theatre Company for a season at the Lyric Hammersmith.

In 1960, Harwood began a career as a writer and published his first novel, "All the Same Shadows" in 1961, the screenplay, "Private Potter" in 1962, and the produced stage play, "March Hares" in 1964. Harwood continued at a prolific pace penning more than 21 stage plays, and 10 books. He also created more than 16 screen plays, but seldom wrote original material directly for the screen, usually acting as an adapter, sometimes of his own work (notably "The Dresser").

One of the recurring themes in Harwood's work is his fascination for the stage, its performing artists and artisans as displayed in the "The Dresser", his plays, "After the Lions" (about Sarah Bernhardt), "Another Time" (a semi-autobiographical piece about a gifted South African pianist), "Quartet" (about ageing opera singers) and his non-fiction book "All the World's a Stage", a general history of theatre. Harwood also has a strong interest in World War II, as shown by the films "Operation Daybreak", "The Statement", "The Pianist", and his play turned to film "Taking Sides". Based on true stories, the two last films feature musicians as their main characters. His 2008 play "An English Tragedy" is based on the true story of the British fascist John Amery. [Financial Times interview with Ronald Harwood, 16 February 2008 [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f8279ab8-db64-11dc-9fdd-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1] ] [Evening Standard review, 19 February 2008 [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/show-23382966-details/An+English+Tragedy/showReview.do?reviewId=23439507] ]

Harwood also wrote the screenplay for the films, "The Browning Version" (1994) with Albert Finney, "Being Julia" (2004) with Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons, and Roman Polanski's version of "Oliver Twist" (2005) with Ben Kingsley.

He won an Academy Award for the script of "The Pianist", having already been nominated for "The Dresser" in 1983. Harwood received his third Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2007 for his adaptation of the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", for which he also won a BAFTA. In 2008. Harwood was awarded the Humanitas Award in recognition of "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly".

Recognition

Harwood was president of the English PEN Club from 1989 to 1993, and of International PEN from 1993 to 1997. He was Chairman of the Royal Society of Literature (2001 to 2004) and is President of the Royal Literary Fund (2005). He was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974, Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (1996) and Commander of the British Empire in 1999. In 2003 he was elected a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Department of Language and Literature.

Personal life

Harwood was born Robert Horwitz on November 9 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Isaac Horwitz and Isobel Pepper. He attended the Seapoint Boys’ High School there. He moved to England in 1951. In 1981, he married Natasha Richie. [Ronald Harwood's CV in "Who's Who in the Theatre" 17th edition (1981)] The actor Sir Antony Sher is his cousin.

Bibliography

Selected Stage plays

*"March Hares" (Liverpool, 1964)
*"Country Matters" (69 Theatre Company, Manchester, 1969)
*"The Good Companions" (musical by Andre Previn), libretto (Her Majesty's Theatre, 1974)
*"The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold", adapted from Evelyn Waugh's novel (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and the Round House, London, 1977,
*"A Family" (Manchester and the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 1978)
*"The Dresser" (Manchester and Queen's Theatre, 1980; Duke of York's Theatre, 2005) [Stage review of the 2004-5 revival of "The Dresser" [http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/5558/the-dresser] ]
*"After the Lions" (Manchester, 1982)
*"Tramway Road" (Lyric Hammersmith,1984)
*"The Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest" (Almeida Theatre, 1985)
*"Interpreters" (Queen's Theatre, 1985)
*"J J Farr" (Theatre Royal, Bath and Phoenix Theatre, 1987)
*"Ivanov", translation of Chekhov's play (Strand Theatre,1989)
*"Another Time" (Bath and Wyndham's Theatre,1989)
*"Reflected Glory" (Darlington and Vaudeville Theatre, 1992)
*"Poison Pen", about the death of composer Peter Warlock (Manchester, 1993))
*"Taking Sides", about the conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler (Minerva Theatre, Chichester,1995)
*"The Handyman" (Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 1996)
*"Quartet" (Albery Theatre, 1999)
*"Goodbye Kiss/Guests", double bill about the South African diaspora (Orange Tree Theatre, 2000)
*"Mahler's Conversion" (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford and Aldwych Theatre, 2001)
*"See U Next Tuesday", adaptation of Francis Veber's "Diner de Cons" (Gate Theatre, Dublin, 2002 and Albery Theatre, 2003)
*"An English Tragedy", based on the true story of the British fascist John Amery (Palace Theatre Watford, 2008)

Screenplays

* "Australia" (2008)
* "Love in the Time of Cholera" (2007)
* "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (2007)
* "Oliver Twist" (2005)
* "Being Julia" (2004)
*"The Statement" (2003)
* "The Pianist" (2002)
*"Taking Sides" (2001)
* "Cry, the Beloved Country" (1995)
* "The Browning Version" (1994)
*"The Doctor and the Devils" (1985) (from a script by Dylan Thomas)
* "The Dresser" (1983) (Screenplay and Producer)
*"Operation Daybreak" (1975)
*"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (1971)
*"Eyewitness" (1970)
*"A High Wind in Jamaica" (1965)
*"Private Potter" (1962)

Books and published works

*"All the Same Shadows" (novel) Cape (1961)
*"George Washington September Sir!" (novel) Avon (1961)
*"The Guilt Merchants" (novel) Cape (1963)
*"The Girl in Melanie Klein" (novel) Secker & Warburg (1969)
*"Sir Donald Wolfit: His Life and Work in the Unfashionable Theatre" (biography) Secker & Warburg (1971) ISBN 0436191210)
*"Articles of Faith" (novel - Winifred Holtby Prize) Secker & Warburg (1973) ISBN 0436191229
*"The Genoa Ferry" (novel) Secker & Warburg (1976) ISBN 0436191237
*"César and Augusta" (novel about the composer César Franck) Secker & Warburg (1978) ISBN 0436191199
*"One. Interior. Day. Adventures in the Film Trade", Secker & Warburg (1978) ISBN 0436191245
*"New Stories 3: An Arts Council Anthology" (with Francis King) Hutchinson (1978) ISBN 0091332710
*"The Dresser" (play) Grove Press (1981) ISBN 0394179366
*"A Night at the Theatre" (editor), Methuen (1982) ISBN 0413499502
*"The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold" (play) Amber Lane (1983) ISBN 0906399424
*"After the Lions" (play) Amber Lane (1983) ISBN 0906399416
*"All the World's a Stage" (theatre history), Secker & Warburg (1984) ISBN 0436191326
*"The Ages of Gielgud, an Actor at Eighty", Hodder & Stoughton (1984) ISBN 0340348283
*"Tramway Road" (play) Amber Lane (1984) ISBN 0906399580
*"The Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest" (play) Amber Lane (1985) ISBN 0906399637
*"Interpreters" (play) Amber Lane (1986) ISBN 090639967X
*"Mandela" (a Channel Four book), Boxtree (1987) ISBN 1852832045
*"Dear Alec: Guinness at 75" (editor), Hodder & Stoughton (1989) ISBN 0340499540
*"Another Time" (play) Amber Lane (1989) ISBN 090639998X
*"Reflected Glory" (play) Faber (1992) ISBN 0571164633
*"The Collected Plays of Ronald Harwood", Faber (1993) ISBN 0571170013
*"The Faber Book of the Theatre" (editor) Faber (1994) ISBN 0571164811
*"Harwood Plays: Two (Contemporary Classics)", Faber (1995) ISBN 9001877427
*"The Handyman" (play) Faber (1997) ISBN 0571190413
*"Quartet/Equally Divided" (plays) Faber (1999) ISBN 0571200923)
*"Mahler's Conversion" (play) Faber (2001) ISBN 9780571212316
*"The Pianist/Taking Sides" (screenplays) Faber (2003) ISBN 0571212816
*"An English Tragedy" (play) Faber (2006) ISBN 0571233287
*"Ronald Harwood's Adaptations: From Other Works Into Films", Guerilla Books (2007) ISBN 9780955494307

References

*"Who's Who in the Theatre" 17th edition, Gale (1981) ISBN 0810302157
*"HaIliwell's Who's Who in the Movies", 4th edition, HarperCollins (2006) ISBN 0007169574
*"Theatre Record" and its annual Indexes
*"The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English", Oxford (1996) ISBN 0192122711

External links

* http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/22859/in-praise-of-the-patriotic-playwright.thtml
*imdb name|id=0367838|name=Ronald Harwood
*ibdb name|id=6164|name=Ronald Harwood
* [http://www.australiamovie.net AUSTRALIA: a baz luhrmann film]

ee also

* List of Jews from Sub-Saharan Africa
* List of British Jews
* List of South Africans