Michael Radford

Michael Radford (born February 24, 1946 in New Delhi, India) to a British father and Austrian mother. He is an English film director and screenwriter.

Radford was educated at Bedford School before attending Worcester College, Oxford. After teaching for a few years, he went to the National Film and Television School, becoming a student there in its inaugural year.

Between 1976 and 1982 Radford worked as a documentary film maker making films mostly for the BBC. These included films on the following subjects; Scottish islanders on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides who believe in the literal truth of the Bible, 'The Last Stronghold of the Pure Gospel', the soprano Isobel Buchanan, 'La Belle Isobel', the singer songwriter Van Morrison, 'Van Morrison in Ireland', and the self-explanatory 'The Making of The Pirates of Penzanze'. On the last two of these Radford worked with the cinematographer Roger Deakins, who would later shoot two of Radford's feature films; 1984 and White Mischief.

Radford came to international attention with 1984, his adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, starring John Hurt as Winston Smith, and in which Richard Burton gave his final film performance. The film was made in the time and place (London, April-June 1984) at which the book was set.

Radford's next film, released in 1987, was White Mischief, a period drama set in Kenya during the 1940s. Radford again wrote the screenplay, an adaptation of the novel by James Fox also called White Mischief.

Michael Radford is mostly widely known as the writer and director of the 1994 film Il Postino, which Radford adapted from the novel Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta. The massive international success of the film, for many years it was the largest grossing non-English language film ever made, led to international acclaim for Radford and the star of the film Massimo Troisi. Tragically Troisi died, aged 41, the day after the filming of Il Postino was completed. The film won many international film awards including the 'Best Film Not In The English Language' BAFTA for Radford, who was also nominated for the Best Director and Adapted Screenplay Academy Awards.

In 2000 Radford's film Dancing at the Blue Iguana was released. In a departure from his more usual development technique, namely adapting novels, this film was largely improvised, although Radford shared the screenwriting credit with David Linter.

Radford's most recent film is The Merchant of Venice (2004). Radford adapted the William Shakespeare 'comedy' (see: Shakespearean comedies), and the film stars Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as Antonio.

Radford directed his first play in 2000, a West End production of The Seven Year Itch. This was an adaptation of the Billy Wilder directed 1955 film The Seven Year Itch starring Marilyn Monroe.

Radford also has a son Felix aged fifteen from his first marriage to Iseult Teran, and a daughter Amaryllis aged 20 months form his current wife Emma Tweed.

Selected filmography

• Il Postino
• 1984
• The Merchant of Venice
• White Mischief
• Dancing at the Blue Iguana

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