Order of the British Empire
Grand Cross's star of the Order of the British Empire
Awarded by the Sovereign, on the advice of the Government
Type	Award
Motto	For God and the Empire
Day	NA
Eligibility	British nationals or anyone who makes an impact on the UK
Awarded for	A national order of merit
Status	Currently constituted
Sovereign	Queen Elizabeth II
Grand Master	Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Principal Commander	Sovereign
Grades (w/ post-nominals)	Knight/Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight/Dame Commander (KBE/DBE) Commander (CBE) Officer (OBE) Member (MBE)
Former grades	NA
Statistics
Established	1917
First induction	ND
Last induction	ND
Total inductees	ND
Distinct recipients	ND
Precedence
Next (higher)	Royal Victorian Order
Next (lower)	Varies, depending on rank
Ribbons: civil (upper), military (lower)

MBE as awarded in 1918

Lieutenant General Sir Robert Fulton, KBE

Dame Jane Goodall, DBE

Joan Armatrading, MBE, born in Saint Kitts

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom.^[1][2] The Order is composed of five classes in civil and military divisions. In descending order of seniority, these are:

• Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE), see Knight Grand Cross.^[a]
• Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) or Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE)
• Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE)
• Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE)
• Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Only the highest two ranks automatically cause an individual to become a knight or dame, an honour allowing the recipient to use the title "Sir" (male) or "Dame" (female) before their first name (though men can be knighted separately from this and other Orders of Chivalry). Honorary knighthoods, given to individuals who are not nationals of a realm where Queen Elizabeth II is Head of State, permit use of the honour as a post-nominal but not as a title before their name. Awards in the Order of the British Empire in the Commonwealth Realms were discontinued with the establishment of national systems of honours and awards such as the Order of Australia, the Order of Canada and the New Zealand Order of Merit. Foreign recipients are classified as honorary members of the Order they receive, and do not contribute to the numbers restricted to that Order as full members do.

There is also a related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are not members of the Order, but who are nonetheless affiliated with the Order. The British Empire Medal has not been used in the United Kingdom or its dependencies since 1993,^[3] but is still used by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations.

The Order's motto is For God and the Empire. It is the most junior of the British orders of chivalry, and the largest, with over 100,000 living members worldwide.^[2]

History[link]

King George V founded the order to fill gaps in the British honours system:

• the Most Honourable Order of the Bath honoured only senior military officers and civil servants;
• the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George honoured diplomats; and
• the Royal Victorian Order honoured those who had personally served the Royal Family.

In particular, King George V wished to honour the many thousands of people who had served in numerous non-combatant capacities during the First World War. Originally, the Order included only one division; however, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was formally divided into Military and Civil Divisions.^[4]

This order has a more democratic character than the Order of the Bath or the Order of St Michael and St George, and in its early days was not held in high esteem. However, this has changed over the years.

Several past American statesmen and diplomats who have performed service for, or on behalf of, the United Kingdom have been given the designation of Knight Commander of the order. However, since membership requires swearing allegiance to a foreign head of state (currently Queen Elizabeth II), the title is officially considered "honorary", and the person is not entitled to be referred to as Sir or Dame. Occasionally the media incorrectly refer to foreign recipients with the prefix title, an example being Bob Geldof KBE, a Republic of Ireland citizen.

Composition[link]

The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all other members of the Order (by convention, on the advice of the Government). The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of which there have been three: Edward, Prince of Wales (1917–1936), Queen Mary (1936–1953), and the current Grand Master, The Duke of Edinburgh (since 1953).

The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the total number of members of the fourth and fifth classes, but no more than 858 Officers and 1464 Members may be appointed per year. Appointments are made on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms. By convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor.

Although the Order of the British Empire has by far the highest number of members of the British Orders of Chivalry, there are fewer appointments to knighthoods than in other orders. Most Knights Commander are honorary members or British citizens living abroad, with only a handful being residents of the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]} The grade of Dame Commander, on the other hand, is the most common grade of dame in the British honours system, and is awarded in circumstances in which men would be created Knights Bachelor.

Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the limited number of Commonwealth realms without their own national system of honours and awards. Citizens of other countries, however, may be admitted as "honorary members". They do not count towards the aforementioned numerical limits, and are not formally addressed as "Sir" or "Dame". They may be made full members if they subsequently become citizens of Commonwealth realms. See List of honorary British Knights.

At the foundation of the Order, the "Medal of the Order of the British Empire" was instituted. In 1922, it was renamed the "British Empire Medal". Recipients, who are not members of the Order itself, are grouped into the Civil and Military Divisions. Only junior government and military officials are awarded the medal; senior officials are directly appointed to the Order of the British Empire. The United Kingdom's Government has not recommended the awarding of the medal since 1992, although some Commonwealth realms continue the practice.

The Order has six officials: the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, and the Usher. The Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Order's Prelate. The Dean of St Paul's is ex officio the Dean of the Order. The Order's King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. The Usher of the Order is known as the Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod; he does not – unlike his Order of the Garter equivalent, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod – perform any duties related to the House of Lords.

If one is appointed to a higher class within the order, one must return one's existing insignia in exchange for the more senior one, and cease using the junior post-nominal letters. Some people, however, have been appointed to both divisions, such as Dame Kelly Holmes, who has been appointed an MBE in the military division and a DBE in the civil division, and is therefore known as "Dame Kelly Holmes, DBE, MBE (Mil.)".^{[citation needed]}

Gallantry[link]

From 1940, a person could be appointed a Commander, Officer or Member of the Order of the British Empire for gallantry, for acts of bravery (not in the face of the enemy) which were below the level required for the George Medal, with the grade being determined by the same criteria as usual and not by the level of gallantry (and with more junior people instead receiving the British Empire Medal). Oddly, this meant that it was awarded for lesser acts of gallantry than the George Medal, but, as an Order, was worn before it and listed before it in post-nominal initials. From 14 January 1958 these awards were designated the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry.^[5] Any individual made a member of the Order for gallantry could wear an emblem of two crossed silver oak leaves on the same riband, ribbon or bow as the badge. It could not be awarded posthumously and was effectively replaced in 1974 with the Queen's Gallantry Medal. If a recipient of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry was promoted within the Order, whether for gallantry or otherwise, they continued to also wear the insignia of the lower grade with the oak leaves.^[6] However, they only used the post-nominal letters of the higher grade.

Vestments and accoutrements[link]

Female appointees may wear their insignia on a bow, as displayed in this image of Bessie Rischbieth, the Australian social reformer

Members of the Order wear elaborate costumes on important occasions (such as quadrennial services and coronations), which vary by rank (the designs underwent major changes in 1937):

• The mantle, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, was originally made of yellow satin lined with blue silk, but is now made of purple satin lined with pearl-grey silk. On the left side is a representation of the star (see below).
• The collar, also worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is made of gold. It consists of six medallions depicting the Royal Arms, alternating with six medallions depicting the Royal and Imperial Cypher of George V ("GRI", which stands for "Georgius Rex Imperator"). The medallions are linked with gold cables depicting lions and crowns.

On certain "collar days" designated by the Sovereign, members attending formal events may wear the Order's collar over their military uniform, formal day dress, or evening wear. When collars are worn (either on collar days or on formal occasions such as coronations), the badge is suspended from the collar. Collars are returned upon the death of their owners, but other insignia may be retained.

At less important occasions, simpler insignia are used:

• The star is an eight-pointed silver star used only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commander. It is worn pinned to the left breast. Varying in size depending on class, it bears a crimson ring with the motto of the Order inscribed. Within the ring, a figure of Britannia was originally shown. Since 1937, however, the effigies of George V and his wife Queen Mary have been shown instead.
• The badge is the only insignia used by all members of the Order. Until 1937, it was suspended on a purple ribbon, with a red central stripe for the military division; since then, the ribbon has been rose-pink with pearl-grey edges, with the addition of a pearl-grey central stripe for the military division. Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear it on a riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. Knights Commander and male Commanders wear the badge from a ribbon around the neck; male Officers and Members wear the badge from a ribbon on the left chest; all females other than Dames Grand Cross wear it from a bow on the left shoulder. The badge is in the form of a cross patonce (having the arms growing broader and floriated toward the end), the obverse of which bears the same field as the star (that is, either Britannia or George V and Queen Mary); the reverse bears George V's Royal and Imperial Cypher. Both are within a ring bearing the motto of the Order. The size of the badges varies according to rank: the higher classes have slightly larger badges. The badges of Knights and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames Commander and Commanders are enamelled with pale blue crosses and crimson rings; those of Officers are plain gold; those of Members are plain silver.
• The British Empire Medal is made of silver. On the obverse is an image of Britannia surrounded by the motto, with the words "For Meritorious Service" at the bottom; on the reverse is George V's Imperial and Royal Cypher, with the words "Instituted by King George V" at the bottom. The name of the recipient is engraved on the rim. This medal is nicknamed "the Gong", and comes in both a full-sized and miniature versions – the latter for formal white-tie and informal black-tie occasions.
• A lapel pin for everyday wear was first announced at the end of December 2006, and is available to recipients of all levels of the Order, as well as to holders of the British Empire Medal. The pin design is not unique to any level. The pin features the badge of the Order, enclosed in a circle of ribbon of its colours of pink and grey. Lapel pins must be purchased separately by a member of the Order at the fixed price of £19.50.^[7] The creation of such a pin was recommended in Sir Hayden Phillips' review of the honours system in 2004,^[8].

• 

  Grand Cross's mantle

• 

  Member's badge, obverse and reverse

• 

  Close up of star on mantle

• Mbe full 05-02-2010.jpg

  Full MBE including ribbon and case in which the MBE was presented.

Order of the British Empire ribbon bars
	Civil	Military
1917–1935
Since 1936		110px

Chapel[link]

The chapel of the order is in the far eastern end of the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, but it holds its great services upstairs in the main body of the cathedral. (The Cathedral also serves as the home of the chapel of The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George.) Religious services for the whole Order are held every four years; new Knights and Dames Grand Cross are installed at these services. The chapel was dedicated in 1960.

Precedence and privileges[link]

A Knight or Dame may display the circlet of the Order on the coat of arms, with the badge of the Order suspended from it.^[b]

Members of all classes of the Order are assigned positions in the order of precedence. Wives of male members of all classes also feature on the order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander; relatives of Ladies of the Order, however, are not assigned any special precedence. As a general rule, individuals can derive precedence from their fathers or husbands, but not from their mothers or wives (see order of precedence in England and Wales for the exact positions).

Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander prefix "Sir", and Dames Grand Cross and Dames Commander prefix "Dame", to their forenames.^[c] Wives of Knights may prefix "Lady" to their surnames, but no equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Dames. Such forms are not used by peers and princes, except when the names of the former are written out in their fullest forms. Male clergy of the Church of England or the established Church of Scotland do not use the title "Sir" as they do not receive the accolade (i.e., they are not dubbed "knight" with a sword), although they do append the post-nominal letters.

Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the post-nominal "GBE", Knights Commander "KBE", Dames Commander "DBE", Commanders "CBE", Officers "OBE" and Members "MBE". The post-nominal for the British Empire Medal is "BEM".

Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commander who are not citizens of Commonwealth realms can be awarded honorary titles but do not receive the accolade and are not entitled to the prefix "Sir" or "Dame", but may still use the post-nominal abbreviations. For example, American Bill Gates was made a Knight Commander, but is not entitled "Sir Bill" or "Sir Bill Gates", although he may use the title "Bill Gates, KBE". Bob Geldof, KBE received a knighthood in 1986 and although he is often referred to as "Sir Bob", he is not a citizen of a Commonwealth realm and he is not entitled to use the prefix "Sir". If recipients later become citizens of Commonwealth realms, then they are usually made substantive members of the Order, and are entitled to begin using the Sir prefix. For example, Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan was appointed an honorary KBE in 2005. He subsequently took dual British and Irish nationality, was made a substantive member, and is now entitled to use the name "Sir Terry Wogan".^[9]

Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to be granted heraldic supporters. They may, furthermore, encircle their arms with a depiction of the circlet (a circle bearing the motto) and the collar; the former is shown either outside or on top of the latter. Knights and Dames Commander and Commanders may display the circlet, but not the collar, surrounding their arms. The badge is depicted suspended from the collar or circlet.

Criticism[link]

The order has attracted some criticism for its connection with the idea of the British Empire.^[10] Benjamin Zephaniah, a British Jamaican poet, publicly rejected an OBE in 2003 because, he claimed it reminded him of "thousands of years of brutality". He went on to say: "It reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised."^[11]

Others^[who?] have declined honours, but, at the request of the Prime Minister's office, did not reveal the fact until some years later.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, a House of Commons Select Committee recommended changing the name of the award to the "Order of British Excellence" and changing the rank of "Commander" to "Companion", as the former was said to have a "militaristic ring".^[10][12]

A notable person to decline the offer of an Order of the British Empire was the author C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), who had been named on the last list of honours by George VI in December 1951 but declined so as to avoid association with any political issues.^[13][14]

The members of The Beatles were made MBEs in 1965. John Lennon justified the comparative merits of his investiture by comparing military membership in the order: "Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war – for killing people... We received ours for entertaining other people. I'd say we deserve ours more." Later, Lennon returned his MBE insignia on 25 November 1969 as part of his ongoing peace protests.^[15] Other criticism centres on the claim that many recipients of the Order are being rewarded with honours for simply doing their jobs, they claim that the civil service and judiciary receive far more orders and honours than leaders of other professions.^[10]

Chin Peng, long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party, was granted the OBE for his share in fighting against the Japanese during World War II, in close cooperation with the British commando Force 136. It was withdrawn by the British government (and became undesirable for Chin Peng himself) when the Communist leader headed his party's guerrilla insurgency against the British in the Malayan Emergency.^[16]

See also[link]

• British honours system
• Knight Bachelor
• List of Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• List of Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
• List of honorary British Knights
• List of Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
• United Kingdom order of precedence

Footnotes[link]

Notes

References

External links[link]

• Honours, Decorations & Awards UK Government
• The London Gazette lists recipients of honours
• Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society, (2002), "The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire"
• Galloway, Peter (1996). The Order of the British Empire. Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. ISBN 0-907605-65-6. 
• "Knighthood and Chivalry" (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press
• Velde, F. R. (2003). "Order of Precedence in England and Wales
• The Chapel of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Frederic Hood, with a foreword by Prince Philip
• Search recommendations for the Order of the British Empire on The UK National Archives' website
• The Chapel of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire – OBE Chapel Exterior detail

Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet at the 68th Venice Film Festival, September 2011
Born	Kate Elizabeth Winslet (1975-10-05) 5 October 1975 (age 36) Reading, Berkshire, England
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Jim Threapleton (m. 1998–2001) «start: (1998)–end+1: (2002)»"Marriage: Jim Threapleton to Kate Winslet" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Kate_Winslet) Sam Mendes (m. 2003–2010) «start: (2003)–end+1: (2011)»"Marriage: Sam Mendes to Kate Winslet" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Kate_Winslet)
Children	2
Relatives	Anna Winslet, Beth Winslet (sisters)

Kate Elizabeth Winslet (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader (2008). She has won awards from the Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association among others, and has been nominated twice for an Emmy Award for television acting, winning once for her role as Mildred Pierce in the 2011 mini-series of the same name.

Brought up in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood, and began her career in British television in 1991. She made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which she received her first notable critical praise. She achieved recognition for her subsequent work in a supporting role in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and for her leading role in Titanic (1997), the highest grossing film at the time, and the highest grossing film of Winslet's career.^[1]

Since 2000, Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics, and she has been nominated for various awards for her work in such films as Quills (2000), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) and Revolutionary Road (2008). Her performance in the last of these prompted New York magazine critic David Edelstein to describe her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".^[2] The romantic comedy The Holiday and the animated film Flushed Away (both 2006) are among the biggest commercial successes of her career.

Winslet was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000. She has been included as a vocalist on some soundtracks of works she has performed in, and the single "What If" from the soundtrack for Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001), was a hit single in several European countries. Winslet has two children.

Early life[link]

Born in Reading, Berkshire, Winslet is the second of four children born to Sally Anne (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming pool contractor.^[3][4] Her parents were "jobbing actors", which led Winslet to comment that she "didn't have a privileged upbringing" and that their daily life was "very hand to mouth".^[5] Her maternal grandparents, Linda (née Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory Theatre,^[5] and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver!. Her older sister, Anna, and younger sister, Beth, are also actresses.^[5] Her younger brother, Joss, is the only sibling who did not pursue an acting career.^[4]

Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School,^[6] a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl.^[7] At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in a television advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was "there from the start".^[8]

Career[link]

1991–1997[link]

Winslet's career began on television, with a co-starring role in the BBC children's science fiction serial Dark Season.^[9] This role was followed by appearances in the made-for-TV film Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1992, the sitcom Get Back, and an episode of the medical drama Casualty in 1993.^[9]

Winslet at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

In 1992, Winslet attended a casting call for Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures in London. Winslet auditioned for the part of Juliet Hulme, a teenager who assists in the murder of the mother of her best friend, Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey). She won the role over 175 other girls.^[10] The film included Winslet's singing debut, and her a cappella version of "Sono Andati", an aria from La Bohème,^[11] was featured on the film's soundtrack.^[12] The film was released to favourable reviews in 1994 and won Jackson and partner Fran Walsh a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.^[13] Winslet was awarded an Empire Award and a London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for her performance.^[14] The Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented: "As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in. She's offset perfectly by Lynskey, whose quietly smoldering Pauline completes the delicate, dangerous partnership."^[15] Speaking about her experience on a film set as an absolute beginner, Winslet noted: "With Heavenly Creatures, all I knew I had to do was completely become that person. In a way it was quite nice doing [the film] and not knowing a bloody thing."^[16]

The following year, Winslet auditioned for the small but pivotal role of Lucy Steele in the adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, featuring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman.^[17] She was instead cast in the second leading role of Marianne Dashwood.^[17] Director Ang Lee admitted he was initially worried about the way Winslet had attacked her role in Heavenly Creatures and thus required her to exercise t'ai chi, read Austen-era Gothic novels and poetry, and work with a piano teacher to fit the grace of the role.^[17] Budgeted at US$16.5 million ($25.2 million in current year dollars) the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a worldwide box office total of US$135 million ($205.9 million) and various awards for Winslet, winning her both a BAFTA and a Screen Actors' Guild Award, and nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.^[14][18]

In 1996, Winslet starred in both Jude and Hamlet. In Michael Winterbottom's Jude, based on the Victorian novel Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, she played Sue Bridehead, a young woman with suffragette leanings who falls in love with her cousin, played by Christopher Eccleston. Acclaimed among critics, it was not a success at the box office, barely grossing US$2 million ($3 million) worldwide.^[19][20] Richard Corliss of Time magazine said "Winslet is worthy of [...] the camera's scrupulous adoration. She's perfect, a modernist ahead of her time [...] and Jude is a handsome showcase for her gifts."^[21] Winslet played Ophelia, Hamlet's drowned lover, in Kenneth Branagh's all star-cast film version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film garnered largely positive reviews and earned Winslet her second Empire Award.^[14][22]

[edit] Titanic

In mid-1996, Winslet began filming James Cameron's Titanic (1997), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.^[23] Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire Danes, and Gabrielle Anwar had been considered for the role;^[24][25][26] when they turned it down, Winslet campaigned heavily for it. She sent Cameron daily notes from England, which led Cameron to invite her to Hollywood for auditions. Cameron described the character as "an Audrey Hepburn type" and was initially uncertain about casting Winslet even after her screen test impressed him.^[24] After she screen tested with DiCaprio, Winslet was so thoroughly impressed with him, that she whispered to Cameron, "He's great. Even if you don't pick me, pick him." Winslet sent Cameron a single rose with a card signed "From Your Rose" and lobbied him by phone. "You don't understand!" she pleaded one day when she reached him by mobile phone in his Humvee. "I am Rose! I don't know why you're even seeing anyone else!" Her persistence, as well as her talent, eventually convinced him to cast her in the role.^[24]

Cast as the sensitive seventeen-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater, a fictional first-class socialite who survives the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, Winslet's experience was emotionally demanding.^[27] "Titanic was totally different and nothing could have prepared me for it. ... We were really scared about the whole adventure. ... Jim [Cameron] is a perfectionist, a real genius at making movies. But there was all this bad press before it came out, and that was really upsetting."^[27] Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing more than US$1.843 billion ($2.7 billion) in box-office receipts worldwide,^[28] and transformed Winslet into a commercial movie star.^[29] Subsequently, she was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, winning a European Film Award.^[14][30]

1998–2003[link]

Shot prior to the release of Titanic, Hideous Kinky, a low-budget hippie romance, was Winslet's sole film of 1998.^[31] Winslet had rejected offers to play the leading roles in Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Anna and the King (1999) in favour of the role of a young English mother named Julia who moves with her daughters from London to Morocco hoping to start a new life.^[31][32] The film garnered generally mixed reviews and received only limited distribution,^[33] resulting in a worldwide gross of US$5 million ($7 million).^[34] Despite the success of Titanic, the next film Winslet opted to star in was Holy Smoke! (1999), featuring Harvey Keitel, another low-budget project—much to the chagrin of her agents, who felt "miserable" about her preference of arthouse films.^[16][27] Feeling pressured, Winslet has said she "never saw Titanic as a springboard for bigger films or bigger pay cheques", knowing that "it could have been that, but would have destroyed [her]."^[35] The same year, she voiced Brigid in the computer animated film Faeries.^[36]

In 2000, Winslet appeared in the period piece Quills with Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix, a film inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. The actress served as somewhat of a "patron saint" of the film for being the first big name to back it, accepting the role of a chambermaid in the asylum and the courier of the Marquis' manuscripts to the underground publishers.^[37] Well-received by critics, the film garnered numerous accolades for Winslet, including nominations for SAG and Satellite Awards.^[14] The film was a modest arthouse success, averaging US$27,709 ($37,395) per screen its debut weekend, and eventually grossing US$18 million ($24.3 million) internationally.^[38]

In 2001's Enigma, Winslet played a young woman who finds herself falling for a brilliant young World War II code breaker, played by Dougray Scott.^[39] It was her first war film, and Winslet regarded "making Enigma a brilliant experience" as she was five months pregnant at the time of the shoot, forcing some tricky camera work from the director Michael Apted.^[39] Generally well-received,^[40] Winslet was awarded a British Independent Film Award for her performance,^[14] and A. O. Scott of The New York Times described Winslet as "more crush-worthy than ever."^[41] In the same year she appeared in Richard Eyre's critically acclaimed film Iris, portraying novelist Iris Murdoch. Winslet shared her role with Judi Dench, with both actresses portraying Murdoch at different phases of her life.^[42] Subsequently, each of them was nominated for an Academy Award the following year, earning Winslet her third nomination.^[14] Also in 2001, she voiced the character Belle in the animated motion picture Christmas Carol: The Movie, based on the Charles Dickens classic novel. For the film, Winslet recorded the song "What If", which was released in November 2001 as a single^[43] with proceeds donated to two of Winslet's favourite charities, the N.S.P.C.C. and the Sargeant Cancer Foundation for Children.^[43][44] A Europe-wide top ten hit, it reached number one in Austria, Belgium and Ireland,^[45] number six on the UK Singles Chart,^[46] and won the 2002 OGAE Song Contest.^[47]

Her next film role was in the 2003 drama The Life of David Gale, in which she played an ambitious journalist who interviews a death-sentenced professor, played by Kevin Spacey, in his final weeks before execution. The film underperformed at international box offices, garnering only half of its US$ 50,000,000 budget,^[48] and generating mostly critical reviews,^[49] with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times calling it a "silly movie."^[50]

2004–2006[link]

Following The Life of David Gale, Winslet appeared with Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), a neosurrealistic indie-drama by French director Michel Gondry. In the film, she played the role of Clementine Kruczynski, a chatty, spontaneous and somewhat neurotic woman, who decides to have all memories of her ex-boyfriend erased from her mind.^[51] The role was a departure from her previous roles, with Winslet revealing in an interview with Variety that she was initially upended about her casting in the film: "This was not the type of thing I was being offered [...] I was just thrilled that there was something he had seen in me, in spite of the corsets, that he thought was going to work for Clementine.”^[52] The film was a critical and financial success.^[53] Winslet received rave reviews for her Academy Award-nominated performance, which Peter Travers of Rolling Stone described as "electrifying and bruisingly vulnerable."^[54]

Winslet at the 61st British Academy Film Awards.

Her final film in 2004 was Finding Neverland. The story of the production focused on Scottish writer J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) and his platonic relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet), whose sons inspired him to pen the classic play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. During promotion of the film, Winslet noted of her portrayal "It was very important for me in playing Sylvia that I was already a mother myself, because I don’t think I could have played that part if I didn’t know what it felt like to be a parent and have those responsibilities and that amount of love that you give to a child [...] and I've always got a baby somewhere, or both of them, all over my face."^[55] The film received favourable reviews and proved to be an international success, becoming Winslet's highest-grossing film since Titanic with a total of $118 million worldwide.^[56][57]

In 2005, Winslet appeared in an episode of BBC's comedy series Extras as a satirical version of herself. While dressed as a nun, she was portrayed giving phone sex tips to the romantically challenged character of Maggie.^[58] Her performance in the episode led to her first nomination for an Emmy Award.^[14] In Romance & Cigarettes (2005), a musical romantic comedy written and directed by John Turturro, she played the character Tula, described by Winslet as "a slut, someone who’s essentially foulmouthed and has bad manners and really doesn’t know how to dress."^[59] Hand-picked by Turturro, who was impressed with her display of dancing ability in Holy Smoke!, Winslet was praised for her performance,^[59] which included her interpretation of Connie Francis's "Scapricciatiello (Do You Love Me Like You Kiss Me)".^[60] Derek Elley of Variety wrote: "Onscreen less, but blessed with the showiest role, filthiest one-liners, [and] a perfect Lancashire accent that's comical enough in the Gotham setting Winslet throws herself into the role with an infectious gusto."^[61]

After declining an invitation to appear in Woody Allen's film Match Point (2005), Winslet stated that she wanted to be able to spend more time with her children.^[62] She began 2006 with All the King's Men, featuring Sean Penn and Jude Law. Winslet played the role of Anne Stanton, the childhood sweetheart of Jack Burden (Law). The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.^[63][64] Todd McCarthy of Variety summed it up as "overstuffed and fatally miscast [...] Absent any point of engagement to become involved in the characters, the film feels stillborn and is unlikely to stir public excitement, even in an election year."^[65]

Winslet fared far better when she joined the cast of Todd Field's Little Children, playing Sarah Pierce, a bored housewife who has a torrid affair with a married neighbour, played by Patrick Wilson. Both her performance and the film received rave reviews; A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote: "In too many recent movies intelligence is woefully undervalued, and it is this quality—even more than its considerable beauty—that distinguishes Little Children from its peers. The result is a film that is challenging, accessible and hard to stop thinking about. Ms. Winslet, as fine an actress as any working in movies today, registers every flicker of Sarah’s pride, self-doubt and desire, inspiring a mixture of recognition, pity and concern that amounts, by the end of the movie, to something like love. That Ms. Winslet is so lovable makes the deficit of love in Sarah’s life all the more painful."^[66] For her work in the film, she was honoured with a Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year from BAFTA/LA, a Los Angeles-based offshoot of the BAFTA Awards.^[67] and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and at 31, became the youngest actress to ever garner five Oscar nominations.^[68]

She followed Little Children with a role in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday, also starring Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black. In it she played Iris, a British woman who temporarily exchanges homes with an American woman (Diaz). Released to a mixed reception by critics,^[69] the film became Winslet's biggest commercial success in nine years, grossing more than US$205 million worldwide.^[70] Also in 2006, Winslet provided her voice for several smaller projects. In the CG-animated Flushed Away, she voiced Rita, a scavenging sewer rat who helps Roddy (Hugh Jackman) escape from the city of Ratropolis and return to his luxurious Kensington origins. A critical and commercial success, the film collected US$177,665,672 at international box offices.^[71]

2007–present[link]

Winslet at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival

In 2007, Winslet reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio to film Revolutionary Road (2008), directed by her husband at the time, Sam Mendes. Winslet had suggested that both should work with her on a film adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates after reading the script by Justin Haythe.^[72] Resulting in both "a blessing and an added pressure" on-set, the reunion was her first experience working with Mendes.^[73] Portraying a couple in a failing marriage in the 1950s, DiCaprio and Winslet watched period videos promoting life in the suburbs to prepare themselves for the film,^[73] which earned them favorable reviews.^[74] In his review of the film, David Edelstein of New York magazine stated that "[t]here isn’t a banal moment in Winslet’s performance—not a gesture, not a word. Is Winslet now the best English-speaking film actress of her generation? I think so."^[2] Winslet was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance, her seventh nomination from the Golden Globes.^[14]

Winslet at the 2007 BAFTAs

Also released in late 2008, the film competed against Winslet's other project, a film adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel The Reader, directed by Stephen Daldry and featuring Ralph Fiennes and David Kross in supporting roles. Originally the first choice for her role, she was initially not able to take on the role due to a scheduling conflict with Revolutionary Road, and Nicole Kidman replaced her.^[75] A month after filming began, however, Kidman left the film due to her pregnancy before filming of her had begun, enabling Winslet to rejoin the film.^[75] Employing a German accent, Winslet portrayed a former Nazi concentration camp guard who has an affair with a teenager (Kross) who, as an adult, witnesses her war crimes trial.^[76] She later said the role was difficult for her, as she was naturally unable "to sympathise with an SS guard."^[77] Because the film required full frontal nudity, a merkin was made for her. In an interview for Allure she related how she refused to use it: "Guys, I am going to have to draw the line at a pubic wig,..."^[78][79] While the film garnered mixed reviews in general,^[80] Winslet received favorable reviews for her performance.^[80] The following year, she earned her sixth Academy Award nomination and went on to win the Best Actress award, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress, a Screen Actors' Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.^[14]

In 2011, Winslet headlined in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, a small screen adaptation of James M. Cain's 1941 novel of the same name, directed by Todd Haynes.^[81] Co-starring Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood, she portrayed a self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband and falling in love with a new man, all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's love and respect. Broadcast to moderate ratings,^[82] the five-part series earned generally favourable reviews,^[83] with Salon.com calling it a "quiet, heartbreaking masterpiece".^[84] Winslet won an Emmy Award,^[85] a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film,^[86] and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for her performance.^[87]

Also in 2011, Winslet appeared in Steven Soderbergh's disaster film Contagion, featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law. The thriller follows the rapid progress of a lethal indirect contact transmission virus that kills within days. Winslet portrayed an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer who becomes infected with the disease over the course of her investigation.^[88] Winslet's other 2011 project, Roman Polanski's Carnage, premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival. An adaptation of the play God of Carnage by French playwright Yasmina Reza, the black comedy follows two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children have been in a fight that day at school. Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz co-star.^[89] For her performance Winslet received a second nomination by the Hollywood Foreign Press that year.

In June 2011, it was announced that Winslet has been cast alongside Josh Brolin in Jason Reitman's adaptation of Joyce Maynard's 2009 novel Labor Day.^[90]

In 2012, Winslet's audiobook performance of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin was released at Audible.com.^[91] Audiofile Magazine's review said, "Kate Winslet reads as though she is relishing every morsel of the drama…She clearly loves the book, and her pleasure in the text is infectious…she grabs listeners and doesn’t let go."^[92]

Personal life[link]

Winslet in Paris at the César Awards 2012.

While on the set of Dark Season, Winslet met actor and writer Stephen Tredre, with whom she had a four-and-a-half-year relationship.^[93] Winslet and Tredre remained close after their separation in 1995.^[94] He died of bone cancer during the opening week of Titanic, causing her to miss the film's Los Angeles premiere to attend his funeral in London.^[95] She and Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio have remained close friends since the filming.^[96]

On 22 November 1998, Winslet married director Jim Threapleton, whom she met while on the set of Hideous Kinky in 1997.^[97][98] They have a daughter, Mia Honey Threapleton,^[98] who was born on 12 October 2000 in London.^[97] Winslet and Threapleton divorced on 13 December 2001.^[99]

Following her separation from Threapleton, Winslet began a relationship with director Sam Mendes,^[99] and she married him on 24 May 2003 on the island of Anguilla.^[97] Their son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on 22 December 2003 in New York City.^[97] Winslet and Mendes announced their separation in March 2010^[100] and are divorced.^{[101][102][103][104]}

Mendes was scheduled to fly on American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked on 11 September 2001 and subsequently crashed into the Pentagon.^[105] In October 2001, Winslet was on a flight with her daughter, Mia, when a passenger who claimed to be a terrorist stood up and shouted, "We are all going to die".^[105] As a result of these incidents, Winslet and Mendes never flew together on the same aircraft, as they feared leaving their children parentless.^[105]

Winslet's weight fluctuations over the years have been well documented by the media.^[93][97] She has been outspoken about her refusal to allow Hollywood to dictate her weight.^[96][106] In February 2003, the British edition of GQ magazine published photographs of Winslet that had been digitally altered to make her look dramatically thinner.^[97] Winslet issued a statement that the alterations were made without her consent, saying, "I just didn't want people to think I was a hypocrite and that I'd suddenly lost 30 lbs or whatever".^[107] GQ subsequently issued an apology.^[106] She won a libel suit in 2009 against the British tabloid The Daily Mail after it printed that she had lied about her exercise regime.^[108] Winslet stated that she had requested an apology to demonstrate her commitment to the views that she has always expressed regarding women's body issues, namely that women should accept their appearance with pride.^[108]

Winslet narrated the documentary A Mother's Courage: Talking Back to Autism, which was generally released on 24 September 2010, after airing on HBO in April of the same year. Her involvement in the documentary led to her founding the non-profit organisation, the Golden Hat Foundation, whose mission is to eliminate barriers for people with autism.^[109][110] In 2011, Winslet received the Yo Dona award for Best Humanitarian Work for her work with the Golden Hat.^[111]

Also in 2010, Winslet narrated a video for PETA, encouraging chefs to remove foie gras from their menus and asking consumers to boycott restaurants that serve it.^[112]

Awards and nominations[link]

Winslet won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Reader (2008). She won two Golden Globe Awards in the same year: Best Actress (Drama) for Revolutionary Road and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. She has won two BAFTA Awards: Best Actress for The Reader, and Best Supporting Actress for Sense and Sensibility (1995). She has earned a total of six Academy Award nominations, nine Golden Globe nominations, and seven BAFTA nominations.^{[106][113][114]}

She has received numerous awards from other organisations, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for Iris (2001) and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Sense and Sensibility and The Reader. Premiere magazine named her portrayal of Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as the 81st greatest film performance of all time.^[115]

Winslet has been selected for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.^[116]

Academy Award nomination milestones[link]

Winslet at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009

Winslet was 26 when she received her third Academy Award nomination, for Iris, just missing the mark of Natalie Wood, who received her third nomination at age 25.^[117] She set the mark as the youngest actor to receive five nominations, at age 31, for Little Children (2006). She surpassed Bette Davis, who was 33 when she received her fifth nomination for her performance in The Little Foxes (1941).^[118] With her Best Actress nomination for The Reader, Winslet became the youngest actor to receive six Oscar nominations. At age 33, Winslet passed the mark Davis, one year older, set with Now, Voyager (1942).^[119]

Winslet received Academy Award nominations as the younger versions of the characters played by fellow nominees Gloria Stuart, as Rose, in Titanic (1997)^[120] and Judi Dench, as Iris Murdoch, in Iris.^[121] These are the only instances of the younger and older versions of a character in the same film both yielding Academy Award nominations, thus making Winslet the only actor to twice share an Oscar nomination with another for portraying the same character.^[120]

When she was not nominated for her work in Revolutionary Road, Winslet became only the second actress to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama) without getting an Oscar nomination for the same performance (Shirley MacLaine was the first for Madame Sousatzka (1988), and she won the Golden Globe in a three-way tie). Academy rules allow an actor to receive no more than one nomination in a given category; as the Academy nominating process determined that Winslet's work in The Reader would be considered a lead performance—unlike the Golden Globes, which considered it a supporting performance—she could not also receive a Best Actress nomination for Revolutionary Road.^[122]

Awards for other work[link]

In 2000, Winslet won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for Listen To the Storyteller.^[123][124] She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for playing herself in a 2005 episode of Extras.^[125] At the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards, Winslet won the Best Actress in Miniseries or TV Movie award for her role as the titular character in Mildred Pierce.

Filmography[link]

References[link]