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Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a British screenwriter, producer and director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known for romantic comedy-drama films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), (2004), About Time (2013), Yesterday (2019) and That Christmas (2024), as well as the war drama film War Horse (2011), and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Spitting Image.
In 2007, Curtis received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He is the co-founder, with Sir Lenny Henry, of the British charity Comic Relief, which has raised over £1 billion. At the 2008 Britannia Awards, he received the BAFTA Humanitarian Award for co-creating Comic Relief and for his contributions to other charitable causes. In 2024, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Curtis was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest figures in British comedy in 2003. In 2008, he was ranked number 12 in a list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture" compiled by The Telegraph. In 2012, he was one of the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the cover of The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Curtis attended Papplewick School in Ascot, Berkshire (as did his younger brother Jamie). For a short period in the 1970s, he lived in Warrington, Cheshire, where he attended Appleton Grammar School (now Bridgewater High School). He lived at Merricourt on Windmill Lane, Appleton, Warrington, during this time. His university friend Rowan Atkinson was an occasional visitor to the house.
He then won a scholarship to Harrow School, where he joined the editorial team of The Harrovian, the weekly school magazine, and this, he asserts, is "where I learned all the skills that made me a sketch writer. I did reviews, comment pieces and funny articles where I'd try to conjure something out of nothing." While at Harrow, Curtis directed a school performance of Joe Orton's play The Erpingham Camp; this controversial choice was given the 'green light' by his classics master, James Morwood. Later, Curtis commented that Morwood's support had helped him understand that it was all right "to push boundaries and to be funny". Curtis did not approve of fagging at the school, and at 18, when he became head of his house, he banned it.
He achieved a first-class Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature at Christ Church, Oxford. At the University of Oxford, he met and began working with Rowan Atkinson, after they both joined the scriptwriting team of the Etceteras revue, part of the Experimental Theatre Club. He appeared in the company's "After Eights" at the Oxford Playhouse in May 1976.
First with Atkinson and later with Ben Elton, Curtis then wrote the Blackadder series from 1983 to 1989, each season focusing on a different era in British history. Atkinson played the lead throughout, but Curtis was the only writer who participated in every episode of Blackadder. The pair continued their collaboration with the comedy series Mr. Bean, which ran from 1990 to 1995.
Curtis had by then already begun writing feature films. His first was The Tall Guy (1989), a romantic comedy starring Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson and produced by Working Title films. The TV movie Bernard and the Genie followed in 1991.
In 1994, Curtis created and co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley for comedian Dawn French, which was a great success. In an online poll conducted in 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom, it was voted the third-best sitcom in British history and Blackadder the second-best, making Curtis the only screenwriter to create two shows in the poll's top 10 programmes.
Curtis' next film was also for Working Title, which has remained his artistic home ever since. 1997's Bean brought Mr. Bean to the big screen and was a huge hit around the world. He continued his association with Working Title writing the 1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, which broke the record set by Four Weddings and a Funeral to become the top-grossing British film. The story of a lonely travel bookstore owner who falls in love with the world's most famous movie star was directed by Roger Michell.
Curtis next co-wrote the screen adaptation of the international bestseller Bridget Jones's Diary for Working Title. Curtis knew the novel's writer Helen Fielding. Indeed, he has credited her with saying that his original script for Four Weddings and a Funeral was too upbeat and needed the addition of the titular funeral.
Two years later, Curtis re-teamed with Working Title to write and direct Love Actually. Curtis has said in interviews that the sprawling, multi-character structure of Love Actually owes a debt to his favourite film, Robert Altman's Nashville. The film featured a "Who's Who" of UK actors, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Andrew Lincoln, Alan Rickman and Keira Knightley, in a loosely connected series of stories about people in and out of love in London in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Its regular festive screening has seen it labelled as being arguably a modern-day Christmas staple.
Curtis followed this in 2004 with work as co-writer on , the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary. Curtis then wrote the screenplay to The Girl in the Café, a television film directed by David Yates and produced by the BBC and HBO as part of the Make Poverty History campaign's Live 8 efforts in 2005. The film stars Bill Nighy as a civil servant and Kelly Macdonald as a young woman he falls in love with at a fictional G8 summit in Iceland. Macdonald's character pushes him to ask whether the developed countries of the world cannot do more to help the most impoverished. The film was timed to air just before the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005. It received three Emmy Awards in 2006, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Kelly Macdonald and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special trophy for Curtis himself. Curtis said of Yates' direction that he made "a much more beautiful film, and a surprising film and a better film than I could possibly have made."
In May 2007, he received the BAFTA Fellowship at the British Academy Television Awards in recognition of his successful career in film and television and his charity efforts. Curtis next co-wrote with Anthony Minghella an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's novel, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which Minghella shot in mid-2007 in Botswana. It premiered on the BBC on 23 March 2008, just days after Minghella's death. The film did not run in the US until early 2009, when HBO aired it as the pilot of a resulting six-episode TV series with the same cast, on which Curtis served as executive producer.
His second film as writer/director, The Boat That Rocked, was released in 2009. The film was set in 1966 in the era of British pirate radio. It followed a group of DJs on a pirate radio station run from a boat in the North Sea. The film starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, Gemma Arterton and Kenneth Branagh. The film was a commercial and critical disappointment in the UK. Curtis re-edited the film for its US release where it was re-titled Pirate Radio, but also failed to find an audience. He followed that with War Horse, which he rewrote for director Steven Spielberg based on an earlier script by playwright Lee Hall. Curtis was recommended to Spielberg by DreamWorks Studio executive Stacey Snider, who had worked with Curtis during her time at Universal Studios. Curtis's work on the World War I-set Blackadder Goes Forth meant he was already familiar with the period.
Curtis then wrote Mary and Martha, a BBC/HBO television film directed by Phillip Noyce. The film starred Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn as two women who bond after they both lose their sons to malaria. The film was broadcast in the UK on 1 March 2013. He next wrote and directed About Time, a romantic comedy/drama about time travel and family love. It starred Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson and Vanessa Kirby. It was released in the UK on 4 September 2013. Soon after the film came out, Curtis delivered a screenwriting lecture as part of the BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters' Lecture Series. He followed that with Trash, which he adapted from the novel by Andy Mulligan for director Stephen Daldry. With three unknown Brazilian children in the lead roles, the film co-starred Wagner Moura, Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen. It was filmed in 2013 in Rio de Janeiro and released in Brazil on 9 October 2014 and in the UK on 30 January 2015.
He next wrote Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, a BBC television film adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's Esio Trot. Receiving acclaim, the film starred Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench, with James Corden as the narrator, was directed by Dearbhla Walsh and was broadcast on BBC on 1 January 2015. His next film, Yesterday, was adapted from an original screenplay by Jack Barth (who received only "co-story" credit, reportedly at Curtis's insistence). The film, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Lily James and Himesh Patel, follows a young man who discovers that the entire world except for him has no memory of the Beatles, allowing him to become a global pop star by performing their songs as his own. While Barth's original screenplay depicted an obscure musician unable to capitalize on his windfall, Curtis's more conventional script featured an independent musician unable to control his own career once the music industry takes over. It began filming on 21 April 2018 and was released on 28 June 2019.
Curtis helped spearhead the launch of the Robin Hood tax campaign in 2010. The campaign fights for a 0.05% tax levied on each bank trade ranging from shares to foreign exchange and derivatives that could generate $700bn worldwide and be spent on measures to combat domestic and international poverty as well as fight climate change.
In October 2010, a short film created by Curtis titled No Pressure was released by the in Britain to promote climate change politics. The film depicted a series of scenes in which people were asked if they were going to participate in the 10:10 campaign, told there was "no pressure" to do so, but if they did not, they were blown up at the press of a red button.
Reaction was mixed, but the video was swiftly removed from the organisation's website.
In March 2011, Curtis apologised following a complaint by the British Stammering Association about 2011 Comic Relief's opening skit, a parody by Lenny Henry of the 2010 film The King's Speech.
He talked the producer of American Idol into doing a show wherein celebrities journeyed into Africa and experienced the level of poverty for themselves. It was called . In 2014, Curtis publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign in support of UK press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while also giving vital protection to the vulnerable."
In August 2014, Curtis was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
In 2020, Curtis co-founded the climate finance campaign Make My Money Matter. According to Campaign Director David Hayman the campaign "is all about helping people understand the impact of their money and how helping them think that if they are saving for retirement, what kind of retirement is their money saving for? What kind of world is it building?"
In 2021, he joined the Rewriting Extinction campaign to fight the climate and biodiversity crisis through comics. He wrote a comic story in collaboration with War and Peas named "Woke". It was printed in the book The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World
Feature film
Acting roles
Miniseries
TV special
Short film
Theater play
Music video
Organizer
Additional literary material
Early writing career
Collaborating with Rowan Atkinson in The Oxford Revue, he appeared alongside him at his breakthrough Edinburgh Fringe show. As a result, he was commissioned to co-write the BBC Radio 3 series The Atkinson People with Atkinson in 1978, which was broadcast in 1979. Radio Picks, The Guardian, 31 January 2007 He then began to write comedy for film and TV. He was a regular writer on the BBC comedy series Not the Nine O'Clock News, where he wrote many of the show's satirical sketches, often with Rowan Atkinson. Curtis co-wrote with Philip Pope for The Hee Bee Gee Bees' song "Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices)", released in 1980, to parody the style of a series of The Bee Gees' disco hits. In 1984 and 1985, Curtis wrote material for ITV's satirical puppet show Spitting Image.
Film career
Curtis achieved his breakthrough success with the romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral. The 1994 film, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, was produced on a limited budget by the British production company Working Title Films. Curtis chose Mike Newell to direct the film after watching his TV film Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill. Four Weddings and a Funeral proved to be the top-grossing British film in history at that time. It made an international star of Grant, and Curtis' Oscar nomination for the script catapulted him to prominence (though the Oscar went to Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary for Pulp Fiction). The film was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost to Forrest Gump.
Campaigning
Curtis together with Sir Lenny Henry are co-founders and co-creators of Comic Relief. Curtis is also a founder of Make Poverty History. He organised the Live 8 concerts with Bob Geldof to publicise poverty, particularly in Africa, and pressure G8 leaders to adopt his proposals for ending it. He has written of his work in The Observer in the Global development section in 2005.
(2025). 9780241513514, DK. ISBN 9780241513514 which was released on 28 October 2021 by DK.
Personal life
Curtis lives in Notting Hill and has a country house in Walberswick, Suffolk with broadcaster Emma Freud whom he married in September 2023. They have four children, including writer and activist Scarlett Curtis. He had previously dated Anne Strutt, now Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, before her marriage to Sir Bernard Jenkin, a Member of Parliament (MP). Curtis has named characters in his writing Bernard (reputedly after Bernard Jenkin). It is claimed he used the Jenkins' wedding as inspiration for Four Weddings and a Funeral. He is Irreligion.
Filmography
Film
Short film
1993 Dead on Time 1991 Mr. Bean Takes an Exam Mr. Bean Goes to a Première 2010 No Pressure 2020 A Cheeky Nativity Poem The Quiz Results Are In! The Vicar's First 'Viral' Sermon 1989 The Tall Guy 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral 1997 Bean 1999 Notting Hill 2001 Bridget Jones's Diary 2003 Love Actually More Great Comedy Moments Direct-to-video 2004 2006 Sixty Six 2007 Mr. Bean's Holiday 2009 The Boat That Rocked Also known as Pirate Radio in North America 2011 War Horse 2013 About Time 2014 Trash 2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again 2019 Yesterday 2020 Rising Phoenix Documentary film 2023 Genie 2024 That Christmas 1983 Dead on Time Customer in Cafe Short film 1989 The Tall Guy Man Leaving Bathroom Uncredited 2003 Love Actually Trombone Player Something Sketchy Himself Short film
Television
1979–1982 Not the Nine O'Clock News 1984–1985 Spitting Image 1985–present Comic Relief 1990 French and Saunders "Episode #3.7" 1990–1995 Mr. Bean Also script editor 1994–2007 The Vicar of Dibley 2007 Casualty Episode "Sweet Charity" 2010 Doctor Who Episode "Vincent and the Doctor" 1983 The Black Adder 1986 Blackadder II 1987 Blackadder the Third 1989 Blackadder Goes Forth 1997 Balls to Africa: Sporting Noses on Tour 2009 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 2019 Four Weddings and a Funeral 1989 A Night of Comic Relief 2 1989 The Robbie Coltrane Special 1992 Rowan Atkinson Live 2015 Global Citizen Festival Red Nose Day 2017 Comic Relief: Graham Norton's Big Chat Live Red Nose Day: Greg Davies' Hot Tub Half Hour The Red Nose Day Special 2019 The United Nations Association 2019 Global Citizen Awards &
12th Annual West Coast Global Forum Segment "We The People" 2020 Cinderella: A Comic Relief Pantomime for Christmas
TV movies
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol 1991 Bernard and the Genie 1992 Comic Relief: Behind the Nose 1995 Oliver 2: Let's Twist Again 1999 Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire 2002 Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe 2005 The Girl in the Café 2007 The Minister of Divine Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind 2008 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 2013 Comic Relief: Red Nose Day 2013 Mary and Martha 2015 Esio Trot 2016 Red Nose Day 2018 The Red Nose Day Special 1982 The Black Adder 1984 Madness the Pilot 1988 1999 2017 Red Nose Day Actually 2019 Comic Relief: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again One Red Nose Day and a Wedding 2023 Baldrick's Bedtime Stories
Other venues
Radio program
2020 Dinner with Dylan 2011 "Happy Now" 2024 "Under the Tree"
Other credits
Music composer
1984–1985 Spitting Image 1989 Hysteria 2! TV movies 1998 A Royal Birthday Celebration 2000 French & Saunders Live Direct-to-video 2001 One Night with Robbie Williams TV special 2016 Walliams & Friend Episode "Miranda Richardson" 2022 Ticket to Paradise
Awards
1990 British Academy Television Award Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Blackadder Goes Forth 1992 The Curse of Mr. Bean 1995 Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay Four Weddings and a Funeral 1995 British Academy Film Award Best Original Screenplay Writers Guild of America Award Best Original Screenplay Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay 1998 British Academy Television Award Best Comedy (Programme or Series) The Vicar of Dibley 1999 2002 British Academy Film Award Best Adapted Screenplay Bridget Jones's Diary Writers Guild of America Award Best Adapted Screenplay 2004 Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Love Actually British Academy Film Award Outstanding British Film Discoverer Screenwriting Award Best Screenplay 2005 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Made for Television Movie The Girl in the Café Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special 2007 British Academy Film Award BAFTA Fellowship 2020 Global Citizen Prize Award Global Citizen of the Year 2025 Academy Awards Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
See also
External links
Categories: 1956 Births, 20th-century British Male Writers, 20th-century British Screenwriters, 21st-century British Male Writers, 21st-century British Screenwriters, Alumni Of Christ Church, Oxford, Bafta Fellows, British Children's Writers, British Comedy Writers, British Film Directors, British Male Screenwriters, British Male Television Writers, British People Of Australian Descent, British People Of Czech Descent, British Television Writers, Comic Relief People, Commanders Of The Order Of The British Empire, Freud Family, Living People, New Zealand Emigrants To England, People Educated At Harrow School, People Educated At Papplewick School, People From Walberswick, Mass Media People From Wellington City, Primetime Emmy Award Winners, British Television Show Creators, British Satirists, British Satirical Television Show Creators, Writers Guild Of America Award Winners
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