name	Othello
producer	David Barron
director	Oliver Parker
writer	William Shakespeare
starring	Laurence FishburneIrène JacobKenneth BranaghNathaniel ParkerMichael MaloneyAnna PatrickNicholas FarrellIndra OvéMichael SheenAndré OumanskyPhilip LockeJohn SavidentGabriele FerzettiPierre Vaneck
music	Charlie Mole
cinematography	David Johnson
editing	Tony Lawson
studio	Castle Rock Entertainment
distributor	Columbia Pictures Warner Bros (2001 DVD Release)
released
runtime	123 minutes
budget	$11 million
gross	$2,844,379 (United States)
country	United KingdomUnited States
language	English }}

''Othello'' is a 1995 film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Oliver Parker and stars Laurence Fishburne as Othello, Irène Jacob as Desdemona, and Kenneth Branagh as Iago. This is the first cinematic reproduction of the play released by a major studio that casts an African American actor to play the role of Othello, although low-budget independent films of the play starring Ted Lange and Yaphet Kotto predated it.

Adaptation

The film, shot in Italy, follows the story of the play closely, but cuts many lines. In addition it adds scenes not in the play, including a sex scene between Othello and Desdemona, dreams in which Othello imagines Desdemona's supposed affair with Cassio, a scene in which Desdemona dances for Othello and a final scene in which the bodies of those killed are buried at sea.

Cast

colspan="3" style="background-color:lightgrey;"	Characters
!Role	!Actor
Othello (character)	Othello	Laurence Fishburne
	Irène Jacob
Iago	Kenneth Branagh
Michael Cassio	Cassio	Nathaniel Parker
Roderigo (Othello)	Roderigo	Michael Maloney
Emilia (Othello)	Emilia	Anna Patrick
Montano	Nicholas Farrell
Bianca (Othello)	Bianca	Indra Ové
Lodovico	Michael Sheen

Reception

The film was not a financial success, grossing only $2.1 million in the United States on its $11 million budget (however, it had a very limited theater count). It received largely positive reviews, especially for Branagh's Iago. Janet Maslin wrote in the ''New York Times'' "Mr. Branagh's superb performance, as the man whose Machiavellian scheming guides the story of Othello's downfall, guarantees this film an immediacy that any audience will understand." Branagh was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance, in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role category.

References

External links

Category:1995 films Category:British films Category:American films Category:Films based on Othello Category:1990s drama films Category:English-language films Category:Films set in Venice Category:Castle Rock Entertainment films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:Films directed by Oliver Parker Category:Films shot in Italy

de:Othello (1995) es:Otelo (1995) it:Othello (film 1995) nl:Othello (1995) ja:オセロ (1995年の映画) pl:Otello (film 1995) pt:Othello (1995)

name	Kenneth Branagh
birth name	Kenneth Charles Branagh
birth date	December 10, 1960
birth place	Belfast, Northern Ireland
years active	1981–present
occupation	Actor, film director
spouse	Emma Thompson (1989–95; divorced)Lindsay Brunnock (2003–present) }}

Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including ''Henry V'' (1989) (for which was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director), ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993), ''Hamlet'' (1996) (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), ''Love's Labour's Lost'' (2000), and ''As You Like It'' (2006).

He has also starred in numerous other films and television series including ''Fortunes of War'' (1987), ''Wild Wild West'' (1999), ''The Road to El Dorado'' (2000), ''Conspiracy'' (TV) (2001), ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' (2002), ''Warm Springs'' (TV) (2005), ''Valkyrie'' (2008), ''Wallander'' (TV series) (2008–present), and ''My Week with Marilyn'' (2011) as Laurence Olivier (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor); and directed such notable films as ''Dead Again'' (1991) (also starring), ''Swan Song'' (1992) (Academy Award nominated for Best Live Action Short Film), ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'' (1994) (also starring), ''The Magic Flute'' (2006), ''Sleuth'' (2007), and the blockbuster action film ''Thor'' (2011).

Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards, and has won an Emmy Award and three BAFTA Awards.

Early life

Branagh, the middle of three children, was born and brought up in Belfast, the son of working-class Protestant parents Frances (née Harper) and William Branagh, a plumber and joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting partitions and suspended ceilings. At the age of nine, he relocated with his family to Reading, Berkshire to escape the Troubles. He was educated at Grove Primary School, Whiteknights Primary School, then Meadway School, Tilehurst, where he appeared in school productions such as ''Toad of Toad Hall''" and ''Oh, What a Lovely War!''. At school, he acquired an English accent to avoid bullying. On his identity today he has said, "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy," and he attributes his "love of words" to his Irish heritage. He is known to have attended the (Amateur) Reading Cine & Video Society (now called Reading Film & Video Makers) as a member.

Branagh went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Stage work

Branagh achieved some early measure of success in his native Northern Ireland for his role as the title character in the BBC's ''Play for Today'' trilogy known as the ''Billy Plays'' (1982–84), written by Graham Reid and set in Belfast.

He received acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, first winning the 1982 SWET Award for Best Newcomer, for his role as Judd in Julian Mitchell's ''Another Country'', immediately after leaving RADA. Branagh was part of the 'new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Bruce Payne and Fiona Shaw. In 1984 he appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Henry V, directed by Adrian Noble. The production played to full houses, especially at the Barbican in London. It was this production that he adapted for the film version of the play in 1989. He and David Parfitt founded the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, following success with several productions on the London 'Fringe', including Branagh's full-scale production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' at the Lyric Studio, co-starring with Samantha Bond. The first major Renaissance production was Branagh's Christmas 1987 staging of ''Twelfth Night'' at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, starring Richard Briers as Malvolio and Frances Barber as Viola, and with an original score by actor, musician and composer Patrick Doyle, who two years later was to compose the music for Branagh's film adaptation of ''Henry V''. This ''Twelfth Night'' was later adapted for television.

Branagh became a major presence in the media and on the British stage when Renaissance collaborated with Birmingham Rep for a 1988 touring season of three Shakespeare plays under the umbrella title of ''Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road'', which also played a repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. It featured directorial debuts for Judi Dench with ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (starring Branagh and Emma Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice), Geraldine McEwan with ''As You Like It'', and Derek Jacobi directing Branagh in the title role in ''Hamlet'', with Sophie Thompson as Ophelia. Critic Milton Shulman of the London ''Evening Standard'' wrote: "On the positive side Branagh has the vitality of Olivier, the passion of Gielgud, the assurance of Guinness, to mention but three famous actors who have essayed the role. On the negative side, he has not got the magnetism of Olivier, nor the mellifluous voice quality of Gielgud nor the intelligence of Guinness."

A year later in 1989 Branagh co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance revival of ''Look Back in Anger''. Judi Dench directed both the theatre and television productions, presented first in Belfast then at the London Coliseum and Lyric Theatre.

In 2002, Branagh starred at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield as Richard III. In 2003 he starred in the Royal National Theatre's production of David Mamet's ''Edmond''. Branagh directed ''The Play What I Wrote'' in England in 2001 and directed a Broadway production in 2003. From September to November 2008, Branagh appeared at Wyndham's Theatre as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Anton Chekhov's ''Ivanov'' in a new version by Tom Stoppard. His performance was lauded as the "performance of the year" by several critics. It won him the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Male Performance but did not get him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, to the surprise of critics.

Film work

Branagh is known for his film adaptations of William Shakespeare, beginning with ''Henry V'' (1989), followed by ''Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993), ''Hamlet'' (1996), ''Love's Labour's Lost'' (2000) and ''As You Like It'' (2006). ''As You Like It'' premiered in theatres in Europe, but was sent directly to television in the U.S., where it aired on HBO in August 2007. Branagh was also in Oliver Parker's ''Othello'' playing Iago.

Notable non-Shakespeare films in which Branagh has appeared include ''Dead Again'' (1991) and ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'' (1994), both of which he also directed, ''Wild Wild West'' (1999), ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (2002) and ''Valkyrie'' (2008). He starred as Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' (2002). He also played the Minister, Dormandy, (a parody of PMG Tony Benn) in the film ''The Boat That Rocked'' (2009). From 1989 to 1996 Branagh mostly directed his own films, but the commercial and critical failure of ''Love's Labour's Lost'' ended his directorial career for a time. In 2006, the same year that Branagh's film version of ''As You Like It'' was released, he also directed a film version of Mozart's opera ''The Magic Flute''. Branagh has also directed the thriller ''Sleuth'' (2007), a remake of the 1972 film. At a film promotion for ''Valkyrie'' in 2008, Branagh confirmed that he would be directing ''Thor'', a film based on the Marvel superhero. ''Thor'', Branagh's return to big-budget directing, released on 6 May 2011. In 2011, Branagh portrayed Sir Laurence Olivier in ''My Week with Marilyn''.

Television

Branagh has also been involved in several made-for-TV films. Among his most acclaimed portrayals is that of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film ''Warm Springs'' (2005), for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. Though the film received 16 Emmy nominations, winning five (including Best Made-For-Television Film), Branagh did not win the award for his portrayal. He did, though, receive an Emmy for his portrayal of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in the TV film ''Conspiracy'' (2001), a depiction of the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials decided on the Final Solution. In 2002 Branagh starred in the two-part television movie ''Shackleton'', a dramatization of the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's battle for survival, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award and an Emmy. Branagh also narrated the BBC documentaries ''Walking With Dinosaurs'', ''World War 1 in Colour'', ''Walking With Beasts'' and ''Walking With Monsters'', and the BBC miniseries ''Great Composers''.

Branagh is the star of the ''Wallander'' television series, adaptations of Henning Mankell's best-selling ''Wallander'' crime novels. Branagh plays the eponymous Inspector Kurt Wallander and also serves as the executive producer of the series. The first three films were broadcast on BBC One in November and December 2008. Branagh won the award for best actor at the 35th Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards (2009). It was his first major television award win in the UK. He received his first BAFTA TV on 26 April 2009 for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. For his performance in the episode ''One Step Behind'', he was nominated in the Outstanding Actor, Miniseries or Movie category of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The role also gained him a nomination for Best Actor at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. The second season of three episodes were filmed in 2009 and aired in January 2010 on the BBC and October/November 2010 on PBS in the US. Plans have been announced for a third season of six episodes—the last three Mankell novels, as well as three original Wallander stories.

Radio

Branagh has also played the title role in BBC radio broadcasts of ''Hamlet'' and ''Cyrano de Bergerac'',and the role of Edmund in King Lear.

Other work

Branagh has narrated several audio books, such as ''The Magician's Nephew'' by C. S. Lewis.

Personal life

Branagh was married from 20 August 1989 until 1995 to actress Emma Thompson, with whom he starred in ''Fortunes of War'' among other projects. After their divorce, he was in a well-publicised relationship for several years with actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he directed and starred with in ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein''. In 2003, he married film art director Lindsay Brunnock, to whom he was introduced by Bonham Carter in 1997.

He is a lifelong supporter of Belfast football team Linfield, as well as Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers.

He speaks Italian.

Honours

Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards, the first man to be nominated for five different categories. His first two nominations were for ''Henry V'' (one each for directing and acting). He also received similar BAFTA Award nominations for his film work, winning one for his direction. His first BAFTA TV award came in April 2009, for Best Drama Series (Wallander). Branagh's two other Academy Award nominations were for the 1992 film short subject ''Swan Song'' and for his work on the screenplay of ''Hamlet'' in 1996. His most recent is for his portrayal of Lord Laurence Olivier in ''My Week With Marilyn''. Branagh has co-starred several times with actress Emma Thompson, to whom he was married from 1989 to 1995. They appeared together in ''Look Back in Anger'', ''Henry V'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Dead Again'', and ''Peter's Friends''. More recently, they both appeared in ''The Boat That Rocked'', though with no shared scenes.

He is Honorary President of NICVA (the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action). He received an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990. He is also a patron for the charity Over The Wall.

In 1994, Branagh declined an appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Branagh was the youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (also known as the Gielgud Award) in 2000.

Alongside Roberto Benigni, he is one of only two non-American actors to be nominated for Oscars for acting, writing, and directing, and one of nine actors to have achieved this honour. The other seven are Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, John Huston and John Cassavetes.

On 10 July 2009, Branagh was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the RomaFictionFest.

Filmography

Actor

1982	''The Billy Plays'' trilogy in the BBC's ''Play for Today''	Billy Martin	Television series
1983		Charles Tansley	Television series
1985	''Coming Through''	D.H. Lawrence	Television
1987		Guy Pringle
1987	''''	James Moon
1987		Rick
1988		Various roles	Television series: 6 episodes
1988	''Strange Interlude''	Gordan Evans	Television
1989		Jimmy Porter
1989
1991	''Dead Again''
1992	''Peter's Friends''	Andrew Benson
1993		Benedick
1993		Herr Knopp, Gestapo	Uncredited
1994		Victor Frankenstein	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1995		Iago	Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1996			San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
1998	''''	Rick Magruder
1998	''''	Richard
1998		Lee Simon
1998		Father Michael McKinnon
1998	''''	Col. Evans	Short film
1999	''''	Periwig-maker	Short film; voice only
1999	''Wild Wild West''	Dr. Arliss Loveless	Nominated — Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1999	''Alien Love Triangle''	Steve Chesterman	Short film
2000		Berowne
2000	''''	Miguel	Voice only
2000	''How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog''	Peter McGowan
2001		Reinhard Heydrich
2001	''Schneider's 2nd Stage''	Joseph Barnett	Short film
2002		A. O. Neville
2002		Ernest Henry Shackleton
2002		Professor Gilderoy Lockhart
2004		Uncle Albert
2005		Franklin D. Roosevelt
2007		Other Man on TV	Uncredited
2008		Henning von Tresckow
2008	''10 Days to War''		Television series: 1 episode
2008–present		Kurt Wallander
2009	''''	Minister Dormandy
2011	''My Week with Marilyn''	Laurence Olivier	London Film Critics Circle Award for Supporting Actor of the YearCapri Award for Best Ensemble CastNominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting RoleNominated — Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor

Director

! Year	! Title	Notes
1989
1991	''Dead Again''	Nominated — Golden Bear, 42nd Berlin International Film Festival
1992
1992	''Peter's Friends''	Also producer
1993
1994		Also co-producerNominated — Saturn Award for Best Horror or Thriller Film
1995	''''
1996
2000		Also writer and producer
2003		Short film; also writer
2006	''''	Also writer
2006		Also writer and executive producer
2007
2011		Empire Award for Best Sci-Fi/FantasyPending — Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film

Narrator

''Anne Frank Remembered'' (Documentary) (1995)

''Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood'' (Six-part TV special) (1996)

''Great Composers (TV mini-series)'' (1997)

''Cold War'' (CNN TV series) (1998)

''The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs'' (UK version) (TV series) (1999)

''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (UK version) (TV series) (1999)

''The Science of Walking with Beasts'' (Australia) (Two-part TV special) (2001)

''The Ballad of Big Al'' (UK version) (TV special) (2001)

''Walking with Beasts'' (UK version) (TV series) (2001)

''The Tramp and the Dictator'' (Documentary) (2002)

''Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs'' (TV series) (2005)

''Goebbels-Experiment, Das'' (Documentary) (2005)

''IMAX: Galapagos'' (Documentary)

''World War 1 in Colour'' (Documentary) (2005)

Awards and nominations

! Award	! Year	! Project	! Category	! Outcome
	rowspan=2	rowspan=2
	''My Week With Marilyn''
rowspan=8	1987
	rowspan=2
2008	rowspan=2
2009
2011	''My Week With Marilyn''
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards		''My Week With Marilyn''
Cannes Film Festival			Palme d'Or
rowspan=2	1989
1996
	2001
2002
2005
2009
		rowspan=3
Young European Film of the Year
	''My Week with Marilyn''
Independent Spirit Awards	1993
	1993		British Producer of the Year
		British Supporting Actor of the Year
	''My Week with Marilyn''	Supporting Actor of the Year
	''My Week with Marilyn''
Saturn Awards	1994		Saturn Award for Best Actor
	''My Week with Marilyn''

Discography and audiobooks

Shakespeare's ''Richard III'' (complete) for Naxos Audiobooks

''In the Ravine & Other Short Stories'' by Anton Chekhov (unabridged) for Naxos Audiobooks

Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (speaker) live recording for Sony Classical, conducted by Claudio Abbado

''The Diary of Samuel Pepys 1660–1669'' (abridged) for Hodder Headline Audio Classics

''The Magician's Nephew'' by C.S Lewis for Harper Books

Shakespeare's "Sonnet 30" for the 2002 compilation album, ''When Love Speaks'' (EMI Classics)

Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' [Abridged]

Joseph Conrad's ''The Heart of Darkness'' for Audible.com.

Further reading

Kenneth Branagh (1990 [1989]) ''Beginning'', London: Chatto and Windus, ISBN 0-7011-3388-0; New York: W W Norton & Co, ISBN 0-393-02862-3

Ian Shuttleworth (1994) ''Ken & Em'', London: Headline. ISBN 0-7472-4718-8

Mark White (2005) ''Kenneth Branagh'', London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-22068-1

Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

See also

Breathnach

References

External links

Biography on Tiscali film section

Kenneth Branagh interview from Premiere (1996)

Branagh Collection at Queen's University, Belfast

Branagh's Wallander - Website relating to the BBC's English-language Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh

Category:1960 births Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:European Film Award for Best Actor winners Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English-language film directors Category:Film actors from Northern Ireland Category:Living people Category:Northern Ireland stage actors Category:People from Belfast Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:People of the Year Awards winners Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:Screenwriters from Northern Ireland Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Television actors from Northern Ireland Category:Venice Best Director Silver Lion winners

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