Harold Pinter
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Notes
In late 2001, Pinter, who had been a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and underwent chemotherapy.
Inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1998.
Biography
The preeminent playwright of his generation, Harold Pinter honed his literary skills during his twenties, traveling the lonely countrysides of Britain and Ireland as the actor David Baron in different repertory theater companies. Though certainly influenced by the spare, oblique wry dialogue of spiritual mentor Samuel Beckett and to a lesser degree the French absurdist school (i.e., Eugene Ionesco), Pinter's plays seem much more reality-based, grounded in the daily give-and-take of marriage, male friendship and family politics of English commoners. He became a master of "subtext," of that which is unsaid, the psychological life running just under the normal life, which calls the tune.
Critics savaged his first London-produced full-length play "The Birthday Party" (1958) so viciously that Pinter mothballed his next one "The Hothouse" until directing a production of it himself decades later in 1980. By 1960, however, when "The Caretaker" opened, reviews recognized the fresh new talent, awards showered down upon him, and his breakthrough play immediately took the theater world by storm. Pinter solidified his reputation with plays like "The Homecoming" (1965), which received the Tony Award for Best Play when it was produced in the USA in 1967, and the tour de force "Betrayal" (1978), in which he brilliantly altered the chronology in his triangular tale of love, starting at the end and working forward. Many of his early plays debuted first on either radio or TV, and as he was an adept master of the subtext-obscuring surface patter, it was only a matter of time before the movies came calling.
Pinter's first screen work came with a typically cryptic adaptation of Robert Maugham's novel, "The Servant" (1963), marking the beginning of a multi-film association with director Joseph Losey that also included "The Accident" (1967) and "The Go-Between" (1971). A real filmmaker and egoist, Losey determined Pinter would serve him, and the resultant pictures benefited from their battle of wills. In addition to his work with Losey, Pinter provided an excellent screenplay for "The Pumpkin Eater" (1964) and the critically-acclaimed film-within-a-film adaptation of John Fowles' "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981). Though the tension he was able to generate on stage diminished in film, his screen versions of his plays, most notably "The Homecoming" (1973), often met with favorable response. His adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Last Tycoon" (1976) garnered mixed reviews, and he scripted fairly pedestrian movies like "The Handmaid's Tale" (1989), "The Comfort of Strangers" (1991) and "The Trial" (1993).
Pinter has frequently directed for the stage, occasionally his own plays, but more often the work of Simon Gray, including "Butley" (1971), with which he made his film-directing debut in 1974. He also directed Robert Shaw's "The Man in the Glass Booth" (1968), for which he received a 1969 Tony nomination and a successful London revival of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1985), starring Lauren Bacall. As an actor, he has made periodic appearances in films he scripted, playing an amusing producer in "Accident" (1967), cameos in others like "The Servant" or "Turtle Diary" (1985). On stage, he also acted opposite Liv Ullmann and Nicola Pagett in a US production of his "Old Times." The man whose name forms an adjective in the Oxford English dictionary (Pinteresque to describe the elliptical style he popularized) signed a deal with Fox Searchlight in 1997 to adapt Isak Dinesen's short story "The Dreaming Child" for Julia Ormond to produce.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Writer (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Writer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1957
Wrote first short play, "The Room"
1958
First full-length play, "The Birthday Party," produced in Cambridge, England
1959
"The Dumbwaiter", in German translation, produced in West Germany
1960
"The Caretaker" opened to rave reviews in London
1960
"The Dumbwaiter" debuted in London on a bill that included "The Room"
1963
First screen adaptation, "The Servant"
1965
"The Homecoming" received first performance in Wales
1968
Double-bill of "The Basement" (originally produced for BBC) and "Tea Party" at Eastside Playhouse
1969
Received Tony Award nomination for direction of "The Man in the Glass Booth" by Robert Shaw
1974
First feature film as director, "Butley"
1975
First production of "No Man's Land", London
1976
Adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon" for the screen version directed by Elia Kazan
1978
"Betrayal" produced on London stage
1981
Wrote film version of John Fowles' novel "The French Lieutenant's Woman"
1983
Movie of "Betrayal" starred Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Irons and Patricia Hodge
1985
Scripted film "Turtle Diary", with Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley
1990
Adapted Margaret Atwood's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" for the screen
1991
Wrote "The Comfort of Strangers", starring Christopher Walken, Natasha Richardson and Helen Mirren
1993
Scripted "The Trial", film based on Franz Kafka tale
1995
Acted the role of Roote, the totalitarian boss, in a revival of his play "The Hothouse", originally written in 1958 but not produced until 1980, a production directed by himself
1997
Contributed to screenplay of Adrian Lyne's "Lolita"
1997
Signed deal with Fox Searchlight to adapt Isak Dinesen's short story "The Dreaming Child" for Julia Ormond to produce and possibly to star
1998
Had leading role in the film version of "Mojo", directed by Jez Butterworth
1999
Cast as the patriarch of the Bertram family in the film adaptation of "Mansfield Park"
2001
Received tribute at NYC's Lincoln Center on occasion of his 70th birthday; nine of his plays were produced as well as screenings of films; acted in "One for the Road"
2001
Acted in the film version of John Le Carre's novel "The Tailor of Panama"
2001
Played the father of a college professor stricken with terminal cancer in "Wit" (HBO), character seen in flashbacks
2001
Directed London revival of "No Man's Land"
2002
Staged a series of sketches and playlets performed in London, including the premiere of a new work, "Press Conference"
2006
Appeared in the critically-acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape"
2007
Penned the screen adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's play, "Sleuth" directed by Kenneth Branagh
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
In late 2001, Pinter, who had been a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and underwent chemotherapy.
Inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1998.
Joseph Losey on why he liked Pinter: "Observations of characters, a very acute awareness of class dynamics and contradictions. He does superbly evoke the visual for me, but I don't think he has any visual sense at all." --quoted in "A Biological Dictionary of Film" by David Thomson (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1994)
"I have enormous respect for Harold. I felt the combination would make a good wedding. And it did. Including our differences and fights! But there was an openness that I liked. What Harold does is get right to the point, he doesn't flower it and decorate it. We both love the book. And it was one of the best working relationships I can remember with a writer." --Jerry Schatzberg, director of "Reunion" (1975).
