Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born
January 6,
1955 in
Consett,
County Durham,
England) is an
English comedian,
actor and
writer best known for playing the title role in the
British television comedy
Mr. Bean and for his iconic
Britcom role as
Blackadder in the series of the same name.
Atkinson was born to Eric Atkinson and Ella May,
Anglican farmers in the town of Consett, north-west of the city of
Durham. He was educated at
Durham Choristers School, followed by
St Bees School, and studied
electrical engineering at
Newcastle University. He continued with an
MSc at
Oxford (
Queen's College), starting his comedy career at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1977. At Oxford, he also acted and performed early sketches for the
Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) and the
Experimental Theatre Club (ETC), meeting writer
Richard Curtis and composer
Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate during his career.
Atkinson toured with
Angus Deayton, who accompanied him as straight man. The show was filmed for television, and is still popular on video. It characterises Atkinson's comedy style, which is rigorously planned and scripted, often visual-based â€" comedy as performance, rather than as observation or discussion, observant of life as many of the routines were. Atkinson's talent for visual comedy has seen him described as "the man with the rubber face". In 1978 he was offered his own television series by
ITV but turned it down in favour of
Not the Nine O'Clock News, which also starred
Pamela Stephenson,
Griff Rhys Jones and
Mel Smith.
The success of
Not the Nine O'Clock News led to his starring in the
medieval sitcom The Black Adder, which he also co-wrote with
Richard Curtis, in 1983. Despite a mixed reception, a second series was written, this time by Curtis and
Ben Elton, and first screened in 1985.
Blackadder II followed the fortunes of one of the descendants of Atkinson's original character, this time in the
Elizabethan era. The same pattern was repeated in two sequels
Blackadder the Third (1987) (set in the
Regency era), and
Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), set in the
First World War. The
Blackadder series went on to become one of the most successful
BBC situation comedies of the 1980s.
Atkinson's other famous creation, the hapless
Mr. Bean, first appeared the following year in a half-hour special for
Thames Television. Several sequels followed at irregular intervals before the character transferred to film in 1997. Entitled
Bean, it was directed by his former co-star from
Not the Nine O'Clock News, Mel Smith. As of 2006, a second film is in production, which Atkinson says will be the last time he plays the character.
In 2003, Atkinson was listed in
The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in a 2005 poll to find
The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
He suffered from a
stutter as a child and it sometimes returns when he is in stressful situations. In particular, the letter "B" poses a problem for him. He managed to overcome the problem through over-articulation. However, this over-articulation — somewhat ironically — evolved into one of his trademark
comic devices (his pronunciation of "
Bob" in
Blackadder being a famous example). His other trademark is his
Received Pronunciation (RP) British accent.
In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the UK's most prominent actors and writers, including
Nicholas Hytner and
Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial
Racial and Religious Hatred Bill — on the grounds that the Bill would give religious groups a "weapon of disproportionate power" whose threat would engender a culture of self-censorship among artists.
He has also appeared in television
advertising campaigns for
Hitachi electrical goods, Fujifilm, the
Give Blood campaign and, most famously, as an
espionage agent for
Barclaycard on which his title role was based for the film
Johnny English.
He also made appearances at the
Just for Laughs comedy festival in
Montreal, which also airs on television. He was present at the fifth festival in 1987 and the seventh in 1989.
Atkinson married
Sunetra Sastry in 1990; they have two children, Lily and Benjamin. A
millionaire with an estimated wealth of
£60 million, his major hobby is fast
cars, of which he has a large collection, consisting of
Aston Martins, various other models, and a purple
McLaren F1 (his second, he crashed the first in the Oxfordshire countryside). He has written for the British magazine
Car. He holds a UK
HGV licence, and currently writes for the British magazine
Evo on running an
MG XPower SV. In 1995 he appeared in the straight role of racing driver
Henry Birkin in the television play
Full Throttle.
*
The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), a charity special for
Amnesty International.
*
Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979â€"1982)
*
Blackadder (1983, 1986, 1987, 1989)
*
Mr. Bean (1989â€"1995, 2002)
*
Bernard and the Genie, (1991)
*
Funny Business (1992), a documentary about the craft of comedy
*
The Thin Blue Line (1995â€"1996)
* The
Comic Relief Red Nose Day telecasts, including appearing in "
Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death" skit in the 1999 telecast and in
Spider-Plant Man as Peter Piper & Spider-Plant Man in 2005.
Albums
*
Rowan Atkinson Live in Belfast (1980, re-released 1996)
* Not Just A Pretty Face (1987, re-released 1994)
Compilations
* The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)
* Not The Nine O'Clock News-The Album (1980)
* We Are Most Amused: The Best Of British Comedy (1981)
*
*
Fan site â€" biography, roles*
RowanAtkinson.com: Forum*
Interview in the Scotsman newspaper*
Interview in The Daily Show (video)
