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Richard Curtis

Curtis at the 68th BFI London Film Festival premiere of That Christmas in 2024
Curtis at the 68th BFI London Film Festival premiere of That Christmas in 2024
Born Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis
(1956-11-08) 8 November 1956 (age 68)
Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
  • producer
  • director
Citizenship United Kingdom
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford
Period 1979–present
Spouse
Emma Freud
(m. 2023)
Children 4, including Scarlett Curtis

Richard Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a famous British writer, producer, and director. He is known for creating many popular romantic comedy films. Some of his well-known movies include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), and Love Actually (2003). He also helped write the scripts for the funny TV shows Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley.

Richard Curtis has received many awards for his work. In 2007, he got the BAFTA Fellowship, which is a special award for his amazing career in film and TV. He also helped start a big British charity called Comic Relief with Sir Lenny Henry. This charity has raised over £1 billion to help people in need. Because of his charity work, he received the BAFTA Humanitarian Award in 2008 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2024.

In 2003, he was named one of the 50 funniest people in British comedy. In 2012, he was even chosen to be part of a new version of The Beatles' famous album cover, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Early Life and School

Richard Curtis was born in Wellington, New Zealand. His family moved around a lot when he was a child. They lived in countries like Sweden and the Philippines before settling in the United Kingdom when he was 11 years old.

He went to Papplewick School and later Harrow School. At Harrow, he joined the school magazine, The Harrovian. He said this is where he learned how to write funny articles and sketches. He also directed a play at school. This helped him understand that it was okay to "push boundaries and to be funny." When he was 18, he became head of his house and stopped an old tradition called "fagging," where older students made younger ones do chores.

Richard Curtis then studied English at Christ Church, Oxford university. There, he met and started working with the famous comedian Rowan Atkinson. They both joined a comedy group and began writing together.

Starting His Writing Career

Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson worked together on comedy shows. They wrote for the BBC Radio 3 series The Atkinson People in 1978. Then, Curtis became a regular writer for the BBC comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News. He wrote many funny and satirical sketches for it.

From 1983 to 1989, Curtis co-wrote the popular Blackadder series with Atkinson and later Ben Elton. Each season of Blackadder was set in a different time in British history. Atkinson played the main character, Edmund Blackadder, in all of them. Curtis was the only writer who worked on every episode. They continued their teamwork with the comedy series Mr. Bean, which ran from 1990 to 1995.

Curtis also started writing movies. His first film was The Tall Guy in 1989, a romantic comedy. In 1994, he created and co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley for comedian Dawn French. This show was very successful. In a 2004 poll, The Vicar of Dibley was voted the third-best British sitcom ever, and Blackadder was second. This made Curtis the only writer with two shows in the top 10.

Film Success

Richard Curtis became very famous with the romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994. The movie, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, was made with a small budget. It became the highest-earning British film at that time. Hugh Grant became an international star, and Curtis was nominated for an Oscar for his script.

Richard.Curtis(London 1999)
Curtis in London, 1999, the year Notting Hill was released

His next big film was Notting Hill in 1999, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. This movie broke the record set by Four Weddings and a Funeral and became the highest-earning British film. It tells the story of a bookstore owner who falls in love with a famous movie star.

Curtis also helped write the movie Bridget Jones's Diary in 2001. He knew the book's writer, Helen Fielding. She even suggested that his first script for Four Weddings and a Funeral needed a funeral to balance the happy parts!

In 2003, Curtis wrote and directed Love Actually. This movie has many different characters and stories that are all connected. It features many famous UK actors like Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, and Emma Thompson. The film is about people falling in and out of love in London during the Christmas season. It has become a popular movie to watch every Christmas.

He also co-wrote Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004. In 2005, he wrote a TV film called The Girl in the Café. This film was made to support the Make Poverty History campaign. It starred Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald and won three Emmy Awards in 2006, including one for Curtis's writing.

In 2009, Curtis wrote and directed The Boat That Rocked. This film was about British pirate radio stations in 1966, which broadcast music from boats in the North Sea. Later, he rewrote the script for the movie War Horse (2011) for director Steven Spielberg.

Curtis then wrote and directed About Time (2013), a romantic comedy-drama about time travel and family love. It starred Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson. He also adapted the children's novel Esio Trot by Roald Dahl into a BBC TV film in 2015, starring Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench.

His film Yesterday (2019), directed by Danny Boyle, tells the story of a young man who wakes up in a world where no one remembers the Beatles except him. He then becomes a global pop star by performing their songs.

Helping Others

Richard Curtis MFF 2016
Curtis at Montclair Film Festival in 2016

Richard Curtis is a co-founder of Comic Relief, a charity that raises money to help people in the UK and around the world. He also helped start the Make Poverty History campaign. He worked with Bob Geldof to organize the Live 8 concerts in 2005. These concerts aimed to raise awareness about poverty, especially in Africa, and encourage world leaders to help end it.

In 2010, Curtis helped launch the Robin Hood tax campaign. This campaign suggests a small tax on bank trades to raise money for fighting poverty and climate change. In 2020, he co-founded the Make My Money Matter campaign, which helps people understand how their savings can impact the world and encourages them to invest in ways that support a better future.

In 2021, he joined the Rewriting Extinction campaign, which uses comics to raise awareness about the climate and biodiversity crisis. He wrote a comic story for their book, The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World.

Personal Life

Richard Curtis lives in Notting Hill, London, and has a country house in Suffolk. He is married to broadcaster Emma Freud. They have four children, including the writer and activist Scarlett Curtis.

Filmography

Film

Short film

Year Title Writer Executive
producer
1983 Dead on Time Yes No
1991 Mr. Bean Takes an Exam Yes No
Mr. Bean Goes to a Première Yes No
2010 No Pressure Yes No
2020 A Cheeky Nativity Poem Yes Yes
The Quiz Results Are In! Yes Yes
The Vicar's First 'Viral' Sermon Yes Yes

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer Executive
producer
Notes
1989 The Tall Guy No Yes No
1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral No Yes Co-executive
1997 Bean No Yes Yes
1999 Notting Hill No Yes Yes
2001 Bridget Jones's Diary No Yes No
2003 Love Actually Yes Yes No
More Great Comedy Moments No Yes No Direct-to-video
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason No Yes No
2006 Sixty Six No No Yes
2007 Mr. Bean's Holiday No No Yes
2009 The Boat That Rocked Yes Yes Yes Also known as Pirate Radio in North America
2011 War Horse No Yes No
2013 About Time Yes Yes Yes
2014 Trash No Yes No
2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again No Story Yes
2019 Yesterday No Yes Producer
2020 Rising Phoenix No No Yes Documentary film
2023 Genie No Yes Producer
2024 That Christmas No Yes Yes

Acting roles

Year Title Role Notes
1983 Dead on Time Customer in Cafe Short film
1989 The Tall Guy Man Leaving Bathroom Uncredited
2003 Love Actually Trombone Player
0TBA Something Sketchy Himself Short film

Television

Year Title Creator Writer Executive
producer
Notes
1979–1982 Not the Nine O'Clock News No Yes No
1984–1985 Spitting Image No Yes No
1985–present Comic Relief Yes No No
1990 French and Saunders No Yes No "Episode #3.7"
1990–1995 Mr. Bean Yes Yes No Also script editor
1994–2007 The Vicar of Dibley Yes Yes Co-executive
2007 Casualty No Yes No Episode "Sweet Charity"
2010 Doctor Who No Yes No Episode "Vincent and the Doctor"

Miniseries

Year Title Creator Writer Executive producer
1983 The Black Adder Yes Yes No
1986 Blackadder II Yes Yes No
1987 Blackadder the Third Yes Yes No
1989 Blackadder Goes Forth Yes Yes No
1997 Balls to Africa: Sporting Noses on Tour No No Yes
2009 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Yes Yes Yes
2019 Four Weddings and a Funeral No No Yes

TV special

Year Title Writer Executive producer Notes
1989 A Night of Comic Relief 2 Yes No
1989 The Robbie Coltrane Special Yes No
1992 Rowan Atkinson Live Yes No
2015 Global Citizen Festival No Yes
Red Nose Day Yes Yes
2017 Comic Relief: Graham Norton's Big Chat Live No Yes
Red Nose Day: Greg Davies' Hot Tub Half Hour No Yes
The Red Nose Day Special Yes No
2019 The United Nations Association 2019 Global Citizen Awards &
12th Annual West Coast Global Forum
Yes No Segment "We The People"
2020 Cinderella: A Comic Relief Pantomime for Christmas Yes Yes

TV movies

Year Title Creator Writer Executive producer
1988 Blackadder's Christmas Carol No Yes No
1991 Bernard and the Genie No Yes No
1992 Comic Relief: Behind the Nose No No Yes
1995 Oliver 2: Let's Twist Again No Yes No
1999 Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death No No Yes
Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire Yes Yes No
2002 Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe Yes No Yes
2005 The Girl in the Café No Yes Yes
2007 The Minister of Divine No No Yes
Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind Yes No No
2008 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency No Yes No
2013 Comic Relief: Red Nose Day 2013 No Yes Yes
Mary and Martha No Yes No
2015 Esio Trot No Yes Yes
2016 Red Nose Day No Yes No
2018 The Red Nose Day Special No Yes No

Short film

Year Title Creator Director Writer
1982 The Black Adder Yes No Yes
1984 Madness the Pilot No No Yes
1988 Blackadder: The Cavalier Years No No Yes
1999 Blackadder: Back & Forth No No Yes
2017 Red Nose Day Actually No Yes Yes
2019 Comic Relief: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again No No Yes
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding No No Yes
2023 Baldrick's Bedtime Stories No No Yes

Awards

Year Award Category Work Result
1990 British Academy Television Award Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Blackadder Goes Forth Won
1992 The Curse of Mr. Bean Nominated
1995 Academy Award Best Original Screenplay Four Weddings and a Funeral Nominated
1995 British Academy Film Award Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Best Original Screenplay Won
Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Nominated
1998 British Academy Television Award Best Comedy (Programme or Series) The Vicar of Dibley Nominated
1999 Nominated
2002 British Academy Film Award Best Adapted Screenplay Bridget Jones's Diary Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
2004 Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay Love Actually Nominated
British Academy Film Award Outstanding British Film Nominated
Discoverer Screenwriting Award Best Screenplay Nominated
2005 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Made for Television Movie The Girl in the Café Won
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Won
2007 British Academy Film Award Academy Fellowship Won
2020 Global Citizen Prize Award Global Citizen of the Year Won
2025 Academy Award Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Honored

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Richard Curtis para niños

  • Comic Relief
  • Live 8
  • Skinhead Hamlet
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