Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CH CBE (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director.
He has directed numerous West End productions earning received three Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Director for Guys and Dolls (1982), King Lear (1998), and Hedda Gabler (2006).
He returned to the BBC in 1988 to direct the Falklands War story Tumbledown (starring Colin Firth), which won him the BAFTA Award for Best Director and the Prix Italia.
He had previously directed a well received revival of Guys and Dolls for the venue in 1982, with Olivier Award-winner Julia McKenzie and Bob Hoskins.
[10] Other than Guys and Dolls, his theatre productions include Hamlet (twice), with Jonathan Pryce at the Royal Court in 1980 and Daniel Day-Lewis in 1989; Richard III with Ian McKellen; King Lear with Ian Holm; Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana and Sweet Bird of Youth; Eduardo De Filippo's Napoli Milionaria and Le Grande Magia; Henrik Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman with Paul Scofield, Vanessa Redgrave and Eileen Atkins; Ibsen's Hedda Gabler with Eve Best; and numerous new plays by David Hare, Tom Stoppard, Trevor Griffiths, Howard Brenton, Alan Bennett, Christopher Hampton and Nicholas Wright.
His debut was the 1994 production of La traviata at the Royal Opera House which starred Angela Gheorghiu and was conducted by Sir Georg Solti.
[13] Eyre has written adaptations of Hedda Gabler and of Sartre's Les mains sales (Dirty Hands) as The Novice for the Almeida Theatre.
Critics praised the film specifically citing the powerful performances from its four stars Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville.
Charles Isherwood of Variety wrote, "Eyre’s production has an earnest integrity to the text that firmly accentuates the play’s powerful aspects".
He directed The Other Man (2008), an adaptation of a short story by Bernhard Schlink, starring Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas, and Laura Linney.
[22] Eyre was planning to direct Jon Robin Baitz's stage adaptation of Hollywood legend Robert Evans' memoirs The Kid Stays in the Picture and its sequel, The Fat Lady Sang,[23] but the project was cancelled by the producer.
[24] His production of Noël Coward's Private Lives starring Kim Cattrall and Paul Gross opened at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway in November 2011 following a run in Toronto.
The following year he directed the BBC Two television film King Lear (2018) which starred Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Florence Pugh, and Jim Broadbent.
[28] In 2021, Eyre directed Allelujah, a film adaptation of Alan Bennett's play of the same name which starred Jennifer Saunders, Bally Gill, Russell Tovey, David Bradley, Derek Jacobi, and Judi Dench.
Eyre's archive is part of the performing arts collections at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas alongside friends and collaborators like David Hare, Ian McEwan, and Tom Stoppard.
His papers include his personal journals, production scripts, annotated opera libretti, correspondence, photographs, posters, and theatre ephemera.
