Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson CBE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Atkinson in 2011 | |||
| Birth name | Rowan Sebastian Atkinson | ||
| Born | (1955-01-06) 6 January 1955 Consett, County Durham, England | ||
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film | ||
| Alma mater | Newcastle University The Queen's College, Oxford | ||
| Years active | 1978–present | ||
| Spouse | Sunetra Sastry (m. 1990; div. 2015) | ||
| Partner(s) | Louise Ford (2014–present)[1] | ||
| Children | 3 | ||
| Relative(s) | Rodney Atkinson (brother) | ||
| Signature |  | ||
| |||
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson CBE (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter best known for his work on the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean. Atkinson first came to prominence in the BBC's sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982), receiving the 1981 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance, and via his participation in The Secret Policeman's Ball from 1979. His other work includes the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, playing a bumbling vicar in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), voicing the red-billed hornbill Zazu in The Lion King (1994), and featuring in the BBC sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996). His work in theatre includes the 2009 West End revival of the musical Oliver!.
Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy,[3] and among the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.[4] In addition to his 1981 BAFTA, he received an Olivier Award for his 1981 West End theatre performance in Rowan Atkinson in Revue. He has also had cinematic success with his performances in the Mr. Bean movie adaptations Bean and Mr. Bean's Holiday, and also in Johnny English film series (2003–2018). He also appears as the titular character in Maigret (2016–present).
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Radio
2.2 Television
2.3 Retirement of Mr. Bean
2.4 Film
2.5 Theatre
3 Comic style
4 Personal life
4.1 Marriage and children
4.2 Political activism
4.3 Cars
4.4 Honours
5 Filmography
5.1 Film
5.2 Television
5.3 Television advertisements
5.4 Music Video Appearances
6 Stage
7 References
8 External links
Early life
Atkinson, the youngest of four brothers, was born in Consett, County Durham, England, on 6 January 1955.[5][6][7][8]
His parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and Ella May (née Bainbridge), who married on 29 June 1945.[8] His three older brothers are Paul, who died as an infant; Rodney, a Eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the UK Independence Party leadership election in 2000; and Rupert.[9][10]
Atkinson was brought up Anglican,[11] and was educated at Durham Choristers School, a preparatory school, St Bees School, and Newcastle University, where he received a degree in Electrical Engineering.[12] In 1975, he continued for the degree of MSc in Electrical Engineering at The Queen's College, Oxford, the same college where his father matriculated in 1935,[13] and which made Atkinson an Honorary Fellow in 2006.[14]
First winning national attention in The Oxford Revue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 1976,[12] he had already written and performed sketches for shows in Oxford by the Etceteras — the revue group of the Experimental Theatre Club (ETC), and for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), meeting writer Richard Curtis,[12] and composer Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate during his career.
Career
Radio
Atkinson starred in a series of comedy shows for BBC Radio 3 in 1979 called The Atkinson People. It consisted of a series of satirical interviews with fictional great men, who were played by Atkinson himself. The series was written by Atkinson and Richard Curtis, and produced by Griff Rhys Jones.[15]
Television
After university, Atkinson did a one-off pilot for London Weekend Television in 1979 called Canned Laughter. Atkinson then went on to do Not the Nine O'Clock News for the BBC, produced by his friend John Lloyd. He featured in the show with Pamela Stephenson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, and was one of the main sketch writers.
The success of Not the Nine O'Clock News led to him taking the lead role in the medieval sitcom The Black Adder (1983), which he also co-wrote with Richard Curtis. After a three-year gap, in part due to budgetary concerns, a second series was broadcast, this time written by Curtis and Ben Elton. Blackadder II (1986) followed the fortunes of one of the descendants of Atkinson's original character, this time in the Elizabethan era. The same pattern was repeated in the two more sequels Blackadder the Third (1987) (set in the Regency era), and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) (set in World War I). The Blackadder series became one of the most successful of all BBC situation comedies, spawning television specials including Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988), Blackadder: The Cavalier Years (1988), and later Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999), which was set at the turn of the Millennium. The final scene of "Blackadder Goes Forth" (when Blackadder and his men go "over the top" and charge into No-Man's-Land) has been described as "bold and highly poignant".[16] During the 2014 centennial of the start of World War I, Michael Gove and war historian Max Hastings complained about the so-called "Blackadder version of history".[17][18][19]
Atkinson in 1997, promoting Bean. In 2014, young adults from abroad named Mr. Bean among a group of people they most associated with UK culture.[20]
Atkinson's other creation, the hapless Mr. Bean, first appeared on New Year's Day in 1990 in a half-hour special for Thames Television. The character of Mr. Bean has been likened to a modern-day Buster Keaton,[21] but Atkinson himself has stated that Jacques Tati's character Monsieur Hulot was the main inspiration.[22]
Several sequels to Mr. Bean appeared on television until 1995, and the character later appeared in a feature film. Bean (1997) was directed by Mel Smith, Atkinson's colleague in Not the Nine O'Clock News. A second film, Mr. Bean's Holiday, was released in 2007. In 1995 and 1996, Atkinson portrayed Inspector Raymond Fowler in The Thin Blue Line television sitcom written by Ben Elton, which takes place in a police station located in fictitious Gasforth.
Atkinson has fronted campaigns for Kronenbourg,[23]Fujifilm, and Give Blood. Atkinson appeared as a hapless and error-prone espionage agent named Richard Lathum in a long-running series of adverts for Barclaycard, on which character his title role in Johnny English, Johnny English Reborn and Johnny English Strikes Again was based. In 1999, he played the Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death, a special Doctor Who serial produced for Comic Relief. Atkinson appeared as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on Top Gear in July 2011, driving the Kia Cee'd around the track in 1:42.2, placing him at the top of the leaderboard until Matt LeBlanc later recorded a 1:42.1 lap time.
Atkinson appeared at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London as Mr. Bean in a comedy sketch during a performance of "Chariots of Fire", playing a repeated single note on synthesizer.[24] He then lapsed into a dream sequence in which he joined the runners from the film of the same name (about the 1924 Summer Olympics), beating them in their iconic run along West Sands at St. Andrews, by riding in a minicab and tripping the front runner.[25] Atkinson starred as Jules Maigret in Maigret, a series of television films from ITV.[26]
Retirement of Mr. Bean
In November 2012, it emerged that Rowan Atkinson intended to retire Mr. Bean. "The stuff that has been most commercially successful for me — basically quite physical, quite childish — I increasingly feel I'm going to do a lot less of," Atkinson told the Daily Telegraph's Review. "Apart from the fact that your physical ability starts to decline, I also think someone in their 50s being childlike becomes a little sad. You've got to be careful."[27] He has also said that the role typecast him to a degree.[28] But in 2016 Atkinson said he would never retire playing the beloved Mr Bean.[29]
In January 2014, ITV announced a new animated series featuring Mr. Bean with Rowan Atkinson returning to the role. It was expected to be released online as a Web-series later in 2014, as a television broadcast followed shortly after.[30] In October 2014, Atkinson also appeared as Mr. Bean in a TV advert for Snickers. In 2015, he starred alongside Ben Miller and Rebecca Front in a sketch for BBC Red Nose Day in which Mr. Bean attends a funeral. In 2017, he appeared as Mr. Bean in the Chinese film Huan Le Xi Ju Ren.[31]
Film
Atkinson's film career began with a supporting part in the "unofficial" James Bond movie Never Say Never Again (1983) and a leading role in Dead on Time (also 1983) with Nigel Hawthorne. He was in the 1988 Oscar-winning short film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings. He appeared in Mel Smith's directorial debut The Tall Guy (1989) and appeared alongside Anjelica Huston and Mai Zetterling in Roald Dahl's The Witches (1990). He played the part of Dexter Hayman in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), a parody of Rambo III, starring Charlie Sheen.
Atkinson gained further recognition with his turn as a verbally bumbling vicar in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and featured in Disney's The Lion King (also 1994) as the voice of Zazu the red-billed hornbill. He also sang the song I Just Can't Wait to Be King in The Lion King. Atkinson continued to appear in supporting roles in comedies, including Rat Race (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), Love Actually (2003), and the crime comedy Keeping Mum (2005), which also starred Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, and Patrick Swayze.
In addition to his supporting roles, Atkinson has also had success as a leading man. His television character Mr. Bean debuted on the big screen with Bean (1997) to international success. A sequel, Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007), also became an international success. He has also starred in the James Bond parody Johnny English (2003), and its sequels, Johnny English Reborn (2011), and Johnny English Strikes Again (2018).
Theatre
Rowan Atkinson performed live on-stage skits — also appearing with members of Monty Python — in The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979) in London for Amnesty International.[32] Atkinson undertook a four-month tour of the UK in 1980. A recording of the stage performance was subsequently released as Live in Belfast.
In 1984, Atkinson appeared in a West End version of the comedy play The Nerd alongside a 10-year-old Christian Bale.[33]The Sneeze and Other Stories, seven short Anton Chekhov plays, translated and adapted by Michael Frayn, were performed by Rowan Atkinson, Timothy West and Cheryl Campbell at the Aldwych Theatre, London in 1988 and early 1989.[34]
Oliver! billboard at the West End's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 2009.
In 2009, during the West End revival of the musical Oliver! based on Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, Atkinson played the role of Fagin.[35] His portrayal and singing of Fagin at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London garnered favourable reviews and he was nominated for an Olivier Award for best actor in a musical or entertainment.[36]
On 28 November 2012, Rowan Atkinson reprised the role of Blackadder at the "We are Most Amused" comedy gala for The Prince's Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was joined by Tony Robinson as Baldrick. The sketch involved the first new Blackadder material for 10 years, with Blackadder as CEO of Melchett, Melchett and Darling bank facing an enquiry over the banking crisis.[37]
In February 2013, Atkinson took on the titular role in a 12-week production (directed by Richard Eyre) of the Simon Gray play Quartermaine's Terms at Wyndham's Theatre in London with costars Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones) and Felicity Montagu (I'm Alan Partridge).[38] In December 2013, he revived his schoolmaster sketch for Royal Free Hospital's Rocks with Laughter at the Adelphi Theatre.[39] A few days prior, he performed a selection of sketches in a small coffee venue in front of only 30 people.[40]
Comic style
Best known for his use of physical comedy in his Mr. Bean persona, Atkinson's other characters rely more on language. Atkinson often plays authority figures (especially priests or vicars) speaking absurd lines with a completely deadpan delivery.
One of his better-known comic devices is over-articulation of the "B" sound, such as his pronunciation of "Bob" in the Blackadder II episode "Bells". Atkinson suffers from a stammer,[41] and the over-articulation is a technique to overcome problematic consonants.
Atkinson's often visually based style, which has been compared to that of Buster Keaton,[21] sets him apart from most modern television and film comics, who rely heavily on dialogue, as well as stand-up comedy which is mostly based on monologues. This talent for visual comedy has led to Atkinson being called "the man with the rubber face"; comedic reference was made to this in an episode of Blackadder the Third ("Sense and Senility"), in which Baldrick (Tony Robinson) refers to his master, Mr. E. Blackadder, as a "lazy, big-nosed, rubber-faced bastard".
Personal life
Rowan Atkinson at the Mr. Bean's Holiday premiere at Leicester Square in London (2007)
In March 2001, while Atkinson was on a holiday trip to Kenya, the pilot of his private plane fainted. Atkinson managed to maintain the plane in the air until the pilot recovered and was able to land the plane at Nairobi's Wilson Airport.[42]
Marriage and children
Rowan Atkinson married Sunetra Sastry in February 1990. They have two children, Ben and Lily.[43] The couple first met in the late 1980s, when she was working as a makeup artist with the BBC.[44] They separated in 2014 and were divorced on 10 November 2015.[45] Atkinson has been in a relationship with Louise Ford since 2014; she gave birth to Atkinson's third child in December 2017.[1]
Political activism
In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the United Kingdom's most prominent actors and writers, including Nicholas Hytner, Stephen Fry, and Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, which they felt would give overwhelming power to religious groups to impose censorship on the arts.[46]
In 2009, he criticized homophobic speech legislation, saying that the House of Lords must vote against a government attempt to remove a free speech clause in an anti-gay hate law.[47]
In October 2012, he voiced his support for the Reform Section 5 campaign,[48] which aims to reform or repeal Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, particularly its statement that an insult can be grounds for arrest and punishment. It is a reaction to several recent high-profile arrests, which Atkinson sees as a restriction of freedom of expression.[49]
Atkinson has opposed the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 law, arguing that, "freedom to criticise ideas - any ideas even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. And the law which attempts to say you can criticise or ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed."[50][51]
Cars
Atkinson holds a category C+E (formerly "Class 1") lorry driving licence, gained in 1981, because lorries held a fascination for him, and to ensure employment as a young actor. He has also used this skill when filming comedy material. In 1991, he starred in the self-penned The Driven Man, a series of sketches featuring Atkinson driving around London trying to solve his obsession with cars, and discussing it with taxi drivers, policemen, used-car salesmen and psychotherapists.[52] A lover of and participant in car racing, he appeared as racing driver Henry Birkin in the television play Full Throttle in 1995.
Atkinson racing in a Jaguar Mark VII M at the Goodwood Revival motor racing festival in England in 2009
Atkinson has raced in other cars, including a Renault 5 GT Turbo for two seasons for its one make series. From 1997 to 2015, he owned a rare McLaren F1, which was involved in an accident in Cabus, near Garstang, Lancashire, with an Austin Metro in October 1999.[53] It was damaged again in a serious crash in August 2011 when it caught fire after Atkinson reportedly lost control and hit a tree.[54][55] That accident caused significant damage to the vehicle, taking over a year to be repaired and leading to the largest insurance payout in Britain, at £910,000.[56] He has previously owned a Honda NSX,[57] an Audi A8,[58] a Škoda Superb, and a Honda Civic Hybrid.[59]
The Conservative Party politician Alan Clark, a devotee of classic motor cars, recorded in his published Diaries a chance meeting with a man he later realized was Atkinson while driving through Oxfordshire in May 1984: "Just after leaving the motorway at Thame I noticed a dark red DBS V8 Aston Martin on the slip road with the bonnet up, a man unhappily bending over it. I told Jane to pull in and walked back. A DV8 in trouble is always good for a gloat." Clark writes that he gave Atkinson a lift in his Rolls-Royce to the nearest telephone box, but was disappointed in his bland reaction to being recognised, noting that: "he didn't sparkle, was rather disappointing and chétif."[60]
In July 2001, Atkinson crashed an Aston Martin V8 Zagato at an enthusiasts' meeting, but walked away unhurt. This was whilst he was competing in the Aston Martin Owners Club event, at the Croft Racing Circuit, Darlington.[61]
One car Atkinson has said he will not own is a Porsche: "I have a problem with Porsches. They're wonderful cars, but I know I could never live with one. Somehow, the typical Porsche people — and I wish them no ill — are not, I feel, my kind of people."[59][62]
In July 2011, Atkinson appeared as the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on Top Gear, driving the Kia Cee'd around the track in 1:42.2, which at the time granted him first place on the leaderboard, with only Matt LeBlanc having set a faster time in the Cee'd.[57]
Honours
Atkinson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.[63][64]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Fundamental Frolics | Himself | Short film |
| 1983 | Dead on Time | Bernard Fripp | Short Film |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again | Nigel Small-Fawcett | |
| 1988 | The Appointments of Dennis Jennings | Dr. Schooner | Short Film |
| 1989 | The Tall Guy | Ron Anderson | |
| 1990 | The Witches | Mr. Stringer | |
| 1993 | Hot Shots! Part Deux | Dexter Hayman | |
| 1994 | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Father Gerald | |
| 1994 | The Lion King | Zazu | Voice |
| 1997 | Bean | Mr. Bean | Also executive Producer |
| 2000 | Maybe Baby | Mr. James | |
| 2001 | Rat Race | Enrico Pollini | |
| 2002 | Scooby-Doo | Emile Mondavarious | |
| 2003 | Johnny English | Johnny English | Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actor |
| 2003 | Love Actually | Rufus | |
| 2005 | Keeping Mum | Reverend Walter Goodfellow | |
| 2007 | Mr. Bean's Holiday | Mr. Bean | |
| 2011 | Johnny English Reborn | Johnny English | |
| 2017 | Huan Le Xi Ju Ren | Mr. Bean | Cameo |
| 2018 | Johnny English Strikes Again | Johnny English | Also producer |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Canned Laughter | Robert Box | Pilot; also writer |
| 1979 | The Secret Policeman's Ball | Himself | Television special |
| 1979–1982 | Not the Nine O'Clock News | Various roles | 28 episodes; also writer |
| 1980 | Peter Cook & Co | Various roles | Television special |
| 1980 | The Innes Book of Records | 1 episode | |
| 1981 | The Secret Policeman's Other Ball | Various roles | Television special |
| 1983 | The Black Adder | Prince Edmund Plantagenet | 6 episodes; also co-creator and writer |
| 1986 | Blackadder II | Edmund, Lord Blackadder | 6 episodes |
| 1986 | Saturday Live | Himself (host) | 1 episodes |
| 1987 | Blackadder the Third | Edmund Blackadder | 6 episodes |
| 1988 | Blackadder: The Cavalier Years | Sir Edmund Blackadder | Television short |
| 1988 | Blackadder's Christmas Carol | Ebenezer Blackadder | Television special |
| 1989 | Blackadder Goes Forth | Captain Edmund Blackadder | 6 episodes |
| 1990–1995 | Mr. Bean | Mr. Bean | 15 episodes; also co-creator and writer |
| 1991 | Bernard and the Genie | Bernard's Boss | Television film |
| 1991 | The Driven Man | Himself | Television documentary; also writer |
| 1992 | Rowan Atkinson Live | Himself | Television special; also writer |
| 1992 | Funny Business | Kevin / Narrator | 6 episodes; also writer |
| 1992 | A Bit of Fry & Laurie | Guest | 1 episode |
| 1992 | Laughing Matters | Himself (host) | Television documentary |
| 1995–1996 | The Thin Blue Line | Inspector Raymond Fowler | 14 episodes |
| 1999 | Blackadder: Back & Forth | Lord Blackadder / King Edmund III / Centurion Blaccadius | Television film |
| 1999 | Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death | The Doctor | Television special |
| 2001 | Popsters | Nasty Neville | Television short |
| 2002–2004 2015–2016 | Mr. Bean | Mr. Bean | Voice 104 episodes; also executive producer |
| 2003 | Lying to Michael Jackson | Martin Bashir | Television short |
| 2005 | Spider-Plant Man | Peter Piper/Spider-Plant Man | Television short |
| 2010 | Bondi Rescue | Mr. Bean | 1 episode |
| 2012 | The Olympics Opening Ceremony | Mr. Bean | Television special |
| 2013 | Live from Lambeth Palace sketches | The Archbishop of Canterbury | Television special |
| 2015 | Horrible Histories | Henry VIII of England | 1 episode |
| 2016–present | Maigret | Jules Maigret | |
| 2017 | Red Nose Day Actually | Rufus | Television short |
Television advertisements
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Kronenbourg 1664 | Customs officer |
| 1983 | Appletiser | Fisherman |
| 1989 | Give Blood | Doctor |
| 1991–1997 | Barclaycard | Richard Latham |
| 1994 | REMA 1000 | Mr. Bean |
| 1997 | M&M's | Mr. Bean |
| 1999 | Nissan Tino | Mr. Bean |
| 2014 | Snickers[65] | Mr. Bean |
| 2018 | Etisalat[66] | Agent One |
Music Video Appearances
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Olly Murs "Moves"[A] (featuring Snoop Dogg) [67] | As Himself |
^ "Moves" also features on the Johnny English Strikes Again OST.
Stage
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Rowan Atkinson in Revue | Various roles | Also writer Globe Theatre |
Rowan Atkinson in New Revue | Various roles | ||
| 1984 | The Nerd | Willum Cubbert | Aldwych Theatre |
| 1986 | Rowan Atkinson at the Atkinson | Various roles | Also writer Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
| 1988 | The Sneeze | Various roles | Aldwych Theatre |
| 2009 | Oliver! | Fagin | Drury Lane |
| 2013 | Quartermaine's Terms | St. John Quartermaine | Wyndham's Theatre |
References
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^ Dargis, Manohla (7 February 2005). "Rowan Atkinson: The Driven Man — Trailer — Cast — Showtimes". The New York Times.
^ "Mr Bean crashes sports car". BBC News. 27 October 1999.
^ Dunning, Craig (5 August 2011). "Mr Bean and Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson in hospital after McLaren F1 supercar crash". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
^ "Update: TV star Rowan Atkinson in hospital following Cambridgeshire crash". Evening Star.
^ Warnes, Sophie (7 February 2013). "Rowan Atkinson crash forces insurers to pay out record £910,000 to repair supercar". The Independent. London. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
^ ab Top Gear Series 17, episode 4
^ "The cars of the stars: Rowan Atkinson". bankrate.com. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
^ ab Wormald, Andrew (31 May 2011). "Stars & their Cars: Rowan Atkinson". MSN. Archived from the original on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
^ Alan Clark Diaries (Phoenix, 1993) p. 80
^ "Atkinson unharmed after car crash". BBC News. 9 July 2001. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
^ "Museum.tv". Museum.tv. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
^ "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 7.
^ "Birthday Honours: Adele joins Blackadder stars on list". BBC News. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
^ "Video: Mr Bean Does Kung Fu in Snickers Ad". Time. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
^ "Video: Watch Rowan Atkinson roams the UAE in new commercial". 2018.
^ https://planetradio.co.uk/hits-radio/entertainment/music/olly-murs-rowan-atkinson-moves-music-video/
External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rowan Atkinson. |
Rowan Atkinson on IMDb- Rowan Atkinson biography at BFI Screenonline
Rowan Atkinson at Rotten Tomatoes
Rowan Atkinson interview on BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, 20 May 1988
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