Stephen Frears By Hannah Keeling

Background Frears was born and raised in Leicester, England, the son of Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr. Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s. Educated at Gresham's School, Norfolk, from 1954 to 1959, he went on to study law at Trinity College, Cambridge, between 1960 and However, after Cambridge his initial career was in television where he contributed to several high-profile series such as the BBCs Play for Today

Career In the mid-1980s he came to prominence as an important director of British and later American films. His first film was the 1972 Gumshoe. But it was his production of the Hanif Kureishi screenplay My BeautifulnLaundrette for Channel 4 in 1985 that led to his notice as a capable film director. The production was released theatrically to great acclaim, and received a nomination for an Academy Award and two nominations for BAFTA Awards. Frears in Sweden, 1989, promoting his movie Dangerous Liaisons He next directed another successful British film, the Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears (1987), which was followed by a second film from a Hanif Kureishi screenplay, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. The following year he made his Hollywood debut with Dangerous Liaisons. The film was quite successful at the box office. It received numerous nominations for Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards, and Frear himself was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Direction.

He had another critical success with The Grifters (1990), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. His film Hero (1992), starring Dustin Hoffman, was a major box office disappointment. He was also nominated for a Razzie Award for his direction of Mary Reilly (1996). He has since directed a number of successful films in both Britain and America, including The Hi-Lo Country (1998), High Fidelity (2000), Dirty Pretty Things (2003) and Mrs Henderson Presents starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. In recent years he has also occasionally returned to directing for television, perhaps most notably helming The Deal, a dramatised account of the alleged deal between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to decide which of them should become leader of the Labour Party in 1994, for Channel 4 in His latest film, The Queen, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It achieved immense critical acclaim, box office success and awards. He himself received his second Oscar nomination for his direction of the film and Dame Helen Mirren won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. In 1987, he teamed up with actor Adrian Edmondson for Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, also starring Peter Cook for a 45 minute programme from the cult series The Comic Strip Presents. In 1985 he had also directed a Comic Strip parody of Rebecca with the usual Comic Strip ensemble.

Filmography Feature films 1971 Gumshoe 1979 Bloody Kids 1984 The Hit 1985 My Beautiful Laundrette 1987 Prick Up Your Ears; Sammy and Rosie Get Laid 1989 Dangerous Liaisons 1990 The Grifters 1992 Accidental Hero 1993 The Snapper 1995 Mary Reilly 1996 The Van 1998 The Hi-Lo Country 2000 High Fidelity; Liam 2002 Dirty Pretty Things 2005 Mrs Henderson Presents 2006 The Queen

Shorts and TV 1967 The Burning (short) 1969 St Ann's; The Deserter; Boys 1970 The Walking Bomb; Blind Man's Buff; Bridge of Death; The Coward; Badge of Fear; Dora; The Charity Horse; Know-all's Nag 1972 A Day Out 1973 England Their England; Match of the Day 1974 The Sisters 1975 Sunset Across the Bay; Three Men in a Boat; Daft as a Brush 1976 Play Things; Early Struggles 1977 Eighteen Months to Balcombe Street; Last Summer; Able's Will; Black Christmas; A Visit from Miss Protheroe 1978 Cold Harbour; Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Wolf; Doris and Doreen; Afternoon Off; One Fine Day; Long Distance Information 1981 Going Gently 1982 Walter 1983 Walter and June; Saigon, the Year of the Cat 1986 Song of Experience 1995 Typically British 2000 Fail Safe

Films Reviews ms.php?id= henderson-presents-stephen-frears/ retty_things_2002_review.shtml Interview With Stephen n_frears_dirty_pretty_things_interview.shtml

Style Of Directing Genre: Drama, Documentary, Comedy Etc. ‘When you make films about Britain, they're always set among the working classes or, in this case, the under class. Why? I just do scripts I like, it's as simple as that. Although, I suppose I don't find the idea of tea and cucumber sandwiches very interesting. That said, I was never asked to do "Four Weddings and a Funeral", which I think is extremely good. I've never had to think about whether a film about the upper classes could be interesting.’