May 2 - Bruce Robinson

Happy 74th Birthday, Bruce Robinson! Born today in 1946, this English novelist, actor, screenwriter and director is best known for writing and directing the 1987 British black comedy/drama film 'Withnail and I'. 

  

Set in September 1969, the film follows two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood (Paul McGann) and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail (Richard E. Grant) -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub.  

  

When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty (Richard Griffiths), they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain. 

  

The film has tragic and comic elements (particularly farce) and is notable for its period music and many quotable lines. It has been described by the BBC as "one of Britain's biggest cult films".

It also drew on Robinson's experiences as a struggling actor, living in poverty in Camden Town.  

  

In the late 1960s, Robinson had worked with Italian director and producer of operas, films and television Franco Zeffirelli (on whom he based the character of Uncle Monty in 'Withnail and I'). 

For one of Zeffirelli's features, Robinson played the unsuccessful peacemaker Benvolio (Lord Montague's nephew and Romeo's cousin). This was for Zeffirelli's 1968 British-Italian Technicolor romantic tragedy drama film 'Romeo and Juliet'. 

  

Among other filmmakers, Robinson had also worked with French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic François Truffaut ('The 400 Blows', 'Shoot the Piano Player', 'Jules and Jim', 'Day for Night', 'The Last Metro') and British film director Ken Russell ('The Devils'). 

  

In the mid-1980s, Robinson wrote the screenplay for British director and producer of film and television Roland Joffé's 1984 British biographical war/drama film 'The Killing Fields'. 

The film was based off of American journalist Sydney Schanberg's 1985 biographical book The Death and Life of Dith Pran.

For his screenplay, Robinson received a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. This occurred at the 38th British Academy Film Awards in early March 1985.   

  

Three years later, Robinson also proved himself to be a comedy writer. This was opposed to his prior writing a war drama about the millions of people living in Cambodia who were killed during the brutal regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. 

  

Robinson has been active from 1968–present. 

  

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