Alan Bennett facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alan Bennett
Bennett in 1973; photographed by Allan Warren
Born	(1934-05-09) 9 May 1934 (age 91) Armley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford
Occupation	Actor author playwright screenwriter
Years active	1960–present
Partner(s)	Rupert Thomas

Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is a famous English actor, author, playwright, and screenwriter. He has won many important awards for his work, including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005, he received a special award from the Society of London Theatre.

Bennett was born in Leeds and later studied at Oxford University. He even taught medieval history there for several years. He became very well-known after performing in a funny show called Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival. This show brought him instant fame and a special Tony Award. After that, he focused on writing full-time. His plays at the Royal National Theatre were very popular. Some of his plays were even made into movies, like The Madness of King George (1994), The History Boys (2005), and The Lady in the Van (2015).

Early Life and Education

Alan Bennett was born on May 9, 1934, in Armley, a part of Leeds, England. His father, Walter, was a butcher for a company called the Co-op, and his mother was Lilian Mary. Alan was the younger of two sons. He went to Christ Church School and then Leeds Modern School.

Before going to university, Bennett learned the Russian during his national service. He then won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, where he earned a top degree in history. While at Oxford, he performed in comedy shows with other students who later became famous actors. He stayed at the university for a few years, teaching Medieval History at Magdalen College, Oxford. However, in 1960, he decided that teaching wasn't for him and chose to become a writer instead.

A Look at His Career

Bennett (second left) in Beyond the Fringe on Broadway around 1962.

Becoming Famous

In August 1960, Alan Bennett became famous after appearing in a funny show called Beyond the Fringe at the Edinburgh International Festival. He performed with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook. The show was so popular that it moved to London and then to New York.

Bennett also had his own TV comedy show called On the Margin in 1966. For a long time, people thought the BBC had erased the show's recordings to save money. But in 2014, audio copies of the entire series were found!

His first play for the stage, Forty Years On, was produced in 1968. After that, he wrote many plays for television, stage, and radio. He also wrote screenplays (scripts for movies), short stories, and non-fiction books. He often appeared as an actor in his own works.

Even though he worked a lot with the Royal National Theatre and the BBC, Bennett always wrote what he wanted, not what he was asked to write. He said, "I don't work on commission, I just do it on spec. If people don't want it then it's too bad."

Some of his well-known TV works include A Day Out (1972) and Intensive Care (1982). But perhaps his most famous TV work is the Talking Heads series from 1988. These were special shows where one actor performed a monologue (a long speech by one person). A second series of Talking Heads came out ten years later.

Plays from the 1980s and 1990s

In 1980, Bennett wrote the play Enjoy. It had a short run at first, but a new production in 2008 and 2009 became very popular. It even sold over £1 million in tickets before it opened!

Bennett wrote The Lady in the Van based on a real person, an unusual woman named Miss Shepherd, who lived in old vans on his driveway for over fifteen years. He first wrote about her in an essay in 1989, then as a book in 1990. In 1999, he turned it into a stage play starring Maggie Smith. The play was also made into a radio play and a movie in 2015, with Maggie Smith playing Miss Shepherd again.

In 1994, Bennett adapted his play The Madness of George III into a film called The Madness of King George. The movie was nominated for four Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars), including one for Bennett's writing. It won the award for best art direction.

Works in the 21st Century

A 2007 production of Bennett's The History Boys at The Doon School, India.

Bennett's play The History Boys was highly praised and won many awards in 2005. These included three Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Play, Best Actor, and Best Direction. It also won six Tony Awards on Broadway, including Best Play. A movie version of The History Boys was released in 2006.

In his 2005 book Untold Stories, Bennett wrote about his mother's mental health struggles and other family stories.

In 2009, his play The Habit of Art opened at the Royal National Theatre. It was about the friendship between the poet W. H. Auden and the composer Benjamin Britten.

His play People opened in 2012. Later that year, his autobiographical play Cocktail Sticks premiered. This play was about his own life and was also made into a radio show.

In 2018, Bennett's play Allelujah!, a funny drama about a hospital that might close, opened to great reviews in London.

Personal Life

Alan Bennett lived for 40 years in Camden Town, London. In 2006, he moved nearby with his partner, Rupert Thomas. Bennett also had a long-term friendship with his former housekeeper, Anne Davies, until her death in 2009.

Bennett is an agnostic, meaning he isn't sure if God exists. He was raised in the Church of England but gradually stopped attending.

He has turned down several honors from the British government. In 1988, he declined the award of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and in 1996, he declined a knighthood. He said that he would never want to be knighted, explaining it would be "a bit like having to wear a suit for the rest of his life."

In 2005, Bennett shared that he had been treated for cancer in 1997. He said his chances of survival were less than 50 percent, but his cancer went into remission. He started writing his book Untold Stories thinking it would be published after he died, but he recovered.

In 2008, Bennett gave all his writings, notes, diaries, and books to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. He said it was his way of thanking the British welfare system, which had given him educational chances he wouldn't have had otherwise.

In 2011, Bennett returned to his old school, Lawnswood School, to open the new Alan Bennett Library. He said he loosely based his play The History Boys on his experiences there. He is a strong supporter of public libraries and believes they are very important for young people.

Bennett is the only surviving member of the original Beyond the Fringe group, which also included Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Jonathan Miller.

He also owns a small house in Clapham in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

Selected Works

Film

Theatre

Awards and Honours

Alan Bennett has received many awards and special recognitions. He was made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, in 1987. He also received honorary doctorates from the University of Leeds in 1990 and Kingston University in 1996. However, he turned down an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1998 to protest against the university accepting money from a newspaper owner. As mentioned before, he also declined a CBE in 1988 and a knighthood in 1996.

Images for kids

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  The gravestone of Alan Bennett's Uncle Clarence, who was the subject of a radio story.

See also

In Spanish: Alan Bennett para niños