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Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies
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James D. Bissell to Marlon Brando
Kenneth Branagh Biography (1960-)
Surname is pronounced Bran-och; full name, Kenneth Charles Branagh; born December 10, 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland; son of William (a plumber and carpenter) and Frances (maiden name, Harper) Branagh; married Emma Thompson (anactress and writer), August 20, 1989 (divorced, 1995).
- Nationality
- British
- Gender
- Male
- Occupation
- Actor, director, producer, writer
- Birth Details
- December 10, 1960
- Belfast, United Kingdom
Famous Works
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CREDITS
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Stage Appearances
- Judd, Another Country, London, 1982
- St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis, London, 1984
- King of Navarre, Love's Labour's Lost, Royal Shakespeare Company,Stratford-upon-Avon, England, then London, 1984-1985
- Title role, Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, then London, 1984-1985
- Laertes, Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, then Barbican Theatre Center, London, 1985
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Public Enemy, Renaissance Theatre Company, London, 1987
- Title role, Hamlet, Tivoli Festival, Renaissance Theatre Company,Elsinore Castle, Denmark, 1988
- Jimmy Porter, Look Back in Anger, Renaissance Theatre Company, London, 1989
- Edgar, King Lear, Renaissance Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, 1990
- Peter Quince, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Renaissance Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, 1990
- Title role, Coriolanus, Renaissance Theatre Company, Chichester, England, 1992
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Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, then London, 1992-1993
- Appeared in Romeo and Juliet, Renaissance Theatre Company, Londonproduction; also appeared in The Golden Girls, the solo show The Madness, and Three Sisters.
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Stage Appearances; Major Tours
- Toured as Benedict, Much Ado about Nothing, and as Touchstone, As You Like It, both Renaissance Theatre Company, British cities; also toured as Laertes, Hamlet, British cities.
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Stage Work
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Director
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Twelfth Night, Renaissance Theatre Company, 1989
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King Lear, Renaissance Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, 1990
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A Midsummer Night's Dream, Renaissance Theatre Company, Mark TaperForum, 1990
- Also the director of The Life of Napoleon and the codirector of Uncle Vanya, both Renaissance Theatre Company.
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Producer
- (With David Parfitt) Hamlet, Renaissance Theatre Company, Tivoli Festival, Elsinore Castle, Denmark, 1988
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Film Appearances
- Charles Moon, A Month in the Country, Orion Classics, 1987
- Rick Lamb, High Season, Hemdale, 1987
- Title role, Henry V, Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1989
- Mike Church and Roman Strauss, Dead Again, Paramount, 1991
- Andrew Benson, Peter's Friends, Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1992
- Performer of excerpts from Henry V,
Symphony for the Spire(also known as His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales' Symphony for the Spire and A Spectacle of Music and Theatre in Aid of the Salisbury Cathedral Spire Appeal), 1992
- Herr Knoff, Swing Kids, Hollywood Pictures, 1993
- Seigneur Benedick, Much Ado about Nothing, Samuel Goldwyn Company,1993
- Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein (also known as Mary Shelley'sFrankenstein), TriStar, 1994
- Iago, Othello, Columbia, 1995
- Title role, Hamlet (also known as William Shakespeare's Hamlet), Columbia, 1996
- Himself, Looking for Richard (documentary), Fox Searchlight Pictures, 1996
- Himself, Making Hamlet, 1996
- Colonel Evans, The Dance of Shiva, Epiphany Productions, 1998
- Father Michael McKinnon, The Proposition, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, 1998
- Lee Simon, Celebrity, Miramax, 1998
- Richard, The Theory of Flight, Fine Line, 1998
- Rick Magruder, The Gingerbread Man, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment,1998
- Dr. Arliss Loveless, Wild Wild West, Warner Bros., 1999
- Himself, The Book That Wrote Itself, RGH/Lions Share Pictures, 1999
- Narrator, The Betty Schimmel Story (documentary), 1999
- Narrator, Galapagos: The Enchanted Voyage (short documentary film), IMAX, 1999
- Voice of periwig-maker, The Periwig-Maker (short animated film), Ideal Standard Film, 1999
- Berowne, Love's Labour's Lost (also known as Peines d'amour perdues), Miramax, 2000
- Peter McGowan, How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog, Millennium Films,2000
- Voice of Miguel, The Road to El Dorado (animated), DreamWorks SKG,2000
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Behind the Scenes: The Road to El Dorado (documentary), 2000
- Steven Chesterman, Alien Love Triangle, Dimension Films, 2001
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Rabbit-Proof Fence, Miramax, 2001
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Film Work
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Director and Producer
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Henry V, Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1989
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Peter's Friends, Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1992
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Much Ado about Nothing, Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1993
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Frankenstein (also known as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), TriStar, 1994
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Love's Labour's Lost (also known as Peines d'amour perdues), Miramax, 2000
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Director
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Dead Again, Paramount, 1991
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Swan Song (short film), Renaissance Films, 1992
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In the Bleak Midwinter (also known as A Midwinter's Tale),1995 Sony Pictures Classics, 1996
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Hamlet (also known as William Shakespeare's Hamlet), Columbia, 1996
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The Betty Schimmel Story (documentary), 1999
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Television Appearances
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Series
- Multiple roles, Thompson, [Great Britain], 1990
- Narrator, Great Composers, BBC, 1999
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Miniseries
- Jack Grant, Boy in the Bush, 1983 PBS, 1988
- Guy Pringle, Fortunes of War, BBC, 1987 broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre, PBS, 1988
- Narrator, Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (documentary), PBS, 1996
- Narrator, Cold War (documentary), Cable News Network, 1998
- Sir Ernest Shackleton (title role), Shackleton, Arts and Entertainment, 2001
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Movies
- General Reinhard Heydrich, Conspiracy, HBO, 2001
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Specials
- Student, "Easter 2016," Play for Tomorrow, BBC, 1982
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Too Late to Talk to Billy (also known as Play for Today: Too Late to Talk to Billy and The Billy Trilogy), BBC, 1982
- Charles Tansley, To the Lighthouse, 1984
- Thomas Mendip, The Lady's Not for Burning, Yorkshire Television, 1987
- Gordon Evans as an adult, "Strange Interlude," American Playhouse,PBS, 1988
- Jimmy Porter, Look Back in Anger, HBO, 1989
- Himself and Hamlet, Discovering Hamlet (documentary), PBS, 1990
- Narrator, Gielgud: Scenes from Nine Decades (documentary), [England], 1994
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The True Story of Frankenstein, Arts and Entertainment, 1994
- Narrator, Anne Frank Remembered (documentary), BBC and The DisneyChannel, 1995
- Narrator, Universal Horror (documentary), TCM, 1998
- Narrator, The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs, BBC, 1999
- Narrator of British version, Walking with Dinosaurs (animated documentary), BBC, 1999
- Narrator of British version, The Ballad of Big Al (also known as Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special), The Discovery Channel, 2000
- Narrator of British version, Big Al Uncovered, BBC, 2000
- Narrator, Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces, TCM, 2000
- Narrator, Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, 2001
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Episodic
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Good Morning, America, ABC, 1991
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Good Morning, America, ABC, 1992
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Showbiz Today, Cable News Network, 1993
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The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, 1994
- Himself, Parkinson (multiple episodes), [Great Britain], 2000
- Appeared in episodes of other series, including The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS; and Maybury, BBC-2.
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Other Television Appearances
- D. H. "Bert" Lawrence, Coming Through, 1985
- Oswald, The Ghosts, 1986
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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Disney Channel,1990
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The Last Show on Earth, Central Independent Television, 1992
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Tales of Gold, BBC, 1992
- Donal Davoren, Shadow of a Gunman, BBC, 1995
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Radio Appearances
- Title role, Hamlet, BBC, 1992
- Romeo, Romeo and Juliet, BBC, 1993
- Edmund, King Lear, BBC, 1994
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As I Walked Out One Morning/A Moment of War, BBC, 1994
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Cider with Rosie, BBC, 1994
- Also performed in radio productions of Diaries of Samuel Pepys andFrankenstein.
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RECORDINGS
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Taped Readings
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Cousin Phyllis, 1988
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Cover to Cover, 1988
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Last Enemy, ASV Records and Tapes, 1990
- Title role, Hamlet, Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1992
- Romeo, Romeo and Juliet, Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1993
- Edmund, King Lear, Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1994
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Audio Books
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Anthem for Doomed Youth, Random House Audio Books, 1993
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Longshot, Harper Audio, 1994
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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Simon & Schuster Audio, 1994
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Captain and the Enemy, Chivers Audio Books, 1995
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Pepys' Diary, Hodder Headline Audiobooks, 1995
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WRITINGS
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Stage Plays
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Tell Me Honestly, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1985
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Public Enemy, Renaissance Theatre Company, London, 1987 publishedby Faber (London), 1988
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Screenplays
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Henry V (adaptation of the play by William Shakespeare), Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1989 published by Chatto & Windus (London), 1989
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Much Ado about Nothing (based on the play by Shakespeare), SamuelGoldwyn Company, 1993 published with introduction and notes, Chatto & Windus, 1993
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In the Bleak Midwinter (also known as A Midwinter's Tale),1995 Sony Pictures Classics, 1996 published as In the Bleak Midwinter: TheShooting Script, Nick Hern Books (New York City), 1995 published as AMidwinter's Script, Newmarket Press (New York City), 1996
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Hamlet (based on the play by Shakespeare; also known as WilliamShakespeare's Hamlet), Columbia, 1996 published in Hamlet: The Makingof the Movie, including the Screenplay, Norton, 1996
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Love's Labour's Lost (based on the play by Shakespeare; also knownas Peines d'amour perdues), Miramax, 2000
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Nonfiction
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Beginning (autobiography), Chatto & Windus (London), 1989 Norton (New York City), 1990
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The Making of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, 1994
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Hamlet: The Making of the Movie, including the Screenplay, Norton,1996
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Shakespeare on the Screen: Kenneth Branagh's Adaptations of Henry V, Much Ado about Nothing, and Hamlet, revised edition, Peter Lang (New YorkCity), 2000
Further Reference
OTHER SOURCES
Books
- Davies, Anthony, and Stanley Wells, editors, Shakespeare and the Moving Image, Cambridge University Press (New York City), 1994
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International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses, St. James Press, 1996
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Newsmakers: The People behind Today's Headlines, Gale, 1992
- Parsons, Keith, and Pamela Mason, Shakespeare in Performance, Salamander Books, 1995
- Shuttleworth, Ian, Ken & Em: A Biography of Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, Headline (London), 1994
Periodicals
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Advocate, February 20, 1996, pp. 42-49
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American Film, September/October, 1991
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Cineaste, winter, 1998, pp. 34-41
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Cinema Journal, summer, 1994
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Commentary, October, 1993
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Critical Quarterly, winter, 1991
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Empire, Issue 66, 1994, pp. 98-109
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Esquire, January, 1990 September, 1991 December, 1994
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Film Comment, November/December, 1989 January/February, 1995
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Harper's Bazaar, February, 1990
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Hollywood Reporter, March 22, 1990
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Interview, October, 1989 November, 1994
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Literature/Film Quarterly, Volume 20, number 4, 1992 Volume 22, number 2, 1994
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Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1989 May 2, 1993 June 3, 1995
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Maclean's, August 26, 1991
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Madison, December, 1998
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Movieline, September, 1991
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New Republic, December 4, 1989
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Newsweek, February 19, 1990
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New York, February 12, 1990 May 24, 1993
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New Yorker, September 9, 1991
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New York Review of Books, May 27, 1993
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New York Times, January 8, 1989 November 5, 1989 November 8, 1989January 21, 1990 August 18, 1991 March 28, 1993 May 16, 1993 November 9, 1994
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People Weekly, February 12, 1990 October 4, 1999, p. 115
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Plays & Players, March, 1985 July, 1987
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Premiere, September, 1991, pp. 74-78; February, 1993, December, 1995, December, 1996, p. 60; June, 1999, p. 102
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Publishers Weekly, March 23, 1990
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Rolling Stone, November 30, 1989 February 8, 1990
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Shakespeare Quarterly, spring, 1991
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Sight and Sound, September, 1993 November, 1994
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Starlog, February, 1995
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Sunday Times (London), October 1, 1989 October 8, 1989
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Time, November 13, 1989 February 5, 1990
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Times (London), August 17, 1985 July 18, 1987 August 15, 1993
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Times Educational Supplement, April 24, 1992
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Times Literary Supplement, October 20, 1989
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Vanity Fair, March, 1988
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Village Voice, May 25, 1993
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Vogue, January, 1988
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