Richard Curtis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Richard Curtis
|
|
---|---|
![]() Curtis at the 68th BFI London Film Festival premiere of That Christmas in 2024
|
|
Born | Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis 8 November 1956 Wellington, New Zealand |
Occupation |
|
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.
Contents
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.
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 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 | |
TBA | 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
In Spanish: Richard Curtis para niños
- Comic Relief
- Live 8
- Skinhead Hamlet