Biography for
Alan Bennett (I)

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Playwright/actor.

As an actor, provided the voice for Mole in the 1996 animated version of Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows. As a playwright, some years earlier, wrote a marvellous and hugely successful stage adaptation of the same book.

Graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, with BA in Medieval History in 1957.

He allegedly refused the honour of a Knighthood in 1996.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 (1991 season) for Best Actor in a Musical or Entertainment for his performance in Talking Heads.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 (1991 season) for Best Entertainment for Talking Heads.

His drama, The Lady in The Van, performed at the Queen's Theatre was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Best New Play.

In 1963, won a Special Tony Award, along with his "Beyond the Fringe" co-stars Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore, "for their brilliance which has shattered all the old concepts of comedy," in a show that was recreated in a television version of the same title, Beyond the Fringe (1964) (TV).

He was awarded the Society's Special Award at the Olivier Awards in 2005 for his lifetime contribution to Theatre.

He won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy for Single Spies in the 1989/90 season

He won the Olivier Award for Best New Play for The History Boys in 2005

Underwent surgery for colon cancer in 1997, and was initially given only two years to live.

His play, "The History Boys" was awarded 6 Tony Awards for the Broadway production in 2006 for the following categories: Best Actor (Richard Griffiths), Best Director (Nicholas Hytner), Best Actress in a Featured Role (Frances De La Tour), Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design, and Best Play.

In the Independent of Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 8, up from no. 17.

He allegedly declined the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1988 and Knighthood in 1996.

Ranked #23 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".

He was offered the role of Mr Goodyear in Fanny Hill (2007) (TV) but declined.

Personal Quotes

"Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often think they have."

"One obstacle always stopped me directing films - namely, having to say, 'Action!' My instinct would be to say, 'Er, I think if everybody's agreeable we might as well sort of start now - that is if you're ready'."

"At 18 I thought that to be 'sensitive' was a writer's first requirement - with discipline and persistence nowhere."

"My claim to literary fame is that I used to deliver meat to a woman who became T.S. Eliot's mother-in-law."

"When [Harold] Pinter turned 50 I was asked to say something and couldn't think of anything. Later I thought there should be a two-minute silence."

I've no need to stand on my dignity or have to be a well-thought-of figure in the theatre. I can be silly - and there is a great deal of silliness. And I enjoy that. I never think there's enough silliness in life anyway. I think that's what wrong with politicians - there's too little silliness in Downing Street.

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