Hampton, Christopher 1946–

PERSONAL

Full name, Christopher James Hampton; born January 26, 1946, in Horta, Faial, Azores, Portugal; son of Bernard Patrick (a marine telecommunications engineer) and Dorothy Patience (maiden name, Herrington) Hampton; married Laura Margaret de Holesch (a social worker), 1971; children: Alice, Mary. Education: New College, Oxford, B.A. (with first class honors), 1968, and M.A. Avocational Interests: Travel, cinema.

Addresses:

Agent—Michael Peretzian, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212; Jenne Casarotto, Casarotto, Ramsay and Associates Ltd., National House, 60–66 Wardour St., London W1V 4ND, England.

Career:

Writer, director, producer, songwriter, and lyricist. Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, West Germany, dramaturg, 1967; translator of lectures on James Joyce, Paris, 1967; Royal Court Theatre, London, resident dramatist, 1968–70; Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, associate member.

Member:

Dramatists Club, Royal Society of Literature (fellow; member of council, beginning 1984).

Awards, Honors:

London Critics Award, best play, Plays and Players, Evening Standard Award, best comedy, 1970, and Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best play, 1971, all for The Philanthropist; New York Drama Critics Poll, most promising playwright, Variety, 1971; London Critics Award (with others), best play, 1973, and Playwriting Award, distinguished theatrical production or performance, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, 1975, both for Savages; Evening Standard Award, best comedy, 1983, for Tales from Hollywood; London Critics Award, best play, 1985, Time Out Award, best production, Evening Standard Award, best play, and Laurence Olivier Award, best play, Society of West End Theatre, all 1986, New York Drama Critics Circle Award, best foreign play, 1987, and Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best play, 1988, all for Les liaisons dangereuses; Television Award, best movie, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1986, for Hotel du lac; Prix Italia, 1988, for The Good Father; Academy Award, 1989, Screen Award nomination, Writers Guild of America, 1989, and Film Award, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1990, all best screenplay adaptation, and London Critics Circle Film Award, screenwriter of the year, 1990, all for Dangerous Liaisons; Special Jury Prize and nomination for Golden Palm, both Cannes Film Festival, 1995, Vancouver International Film Festival Award, most popular film, 1995, and nomination for Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (with others), British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1996, all for Carrington; Antoinette Perry Awards (with others), best original score and best book of a musical, 1995, for Sunset Boulevard; Special Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival, 1995, for Mary Reilly; Scott Moncrieff Prize, Evening Standard Award and Laurence Olivier Award, both best comedy, all 1997, for Art; decorated officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1997; decorated commander, Order of the British Empire, 1999; nomination for Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival, 2003, for Imagining Argentina; Lucille Lortel Award nominations, outstanding revival, League of Off–Broadway Theatres and Producers, 2003, for Don Juan, and 2005, for Hedda Gabler.

CREDITS

Film Work:

Coproducer, Dangerous Liaisons, Warner Bros., 1988.

Director, Carrington, Gramercy, 1995.

Director, The Secret Agent (also known as Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent"), Fox Searchlight, 1996.

Director, Imagining Argentina, Artisan Entertainment, 2004.

Film Appearances:

The judge, Total Eclipse (also known as Eclipse totale, Poeti dall'inferno, and Rimbaud Verlaine), Fine Line, 1995.

Himself, Quoi?, l'eternite, 2004.

Television Appearances; Specials:

The 61st Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1989.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Guest, Lo + plus, 2004.

WRITINGS

Stage Plays:

When Did You Last See My Mother? Oxford, England, then Royal Court Theatre and Comedy Theatre, both London, 1966, later Young People's Repertory Theatre, Sheridan Square Playhouse, New York City, 1967, published by Grove Press, 1967.

Marya (based on work by Isaac Babel), Royal Court Theatre, 1967, then Jewish Repertory Theatre, New York City, 1981, published in Plays of the Year 35, Elek, 1969.

Total Eclipse, Royal Court Theatre, 1968, then Washington, DC, 1972, later Westside Theatre Upstairs, New York City, 1974, published by Faber & Faber, 1969, Samuel French, 1972, revised version produced at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1981, published by Faber & Faber, 1981, published with The Philanthropist: A Bourgeois Comedy, Faber & Faber, 1991.

The Philanthropist: A Bourgeois Comedy (two–act), Royal Court Theatre and Mayfair Theatre, London, both 1970, then Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1971, published by Faber & Faber, 1970, Samuel French, 1971, revised version, Faber & Faber, 1985, published with Total Eclipse, Faber & Faber, 1991.

Uncle Vanya (based on the work of Anton Chekhov), Royal Court Theatre, 1970, published in Plays of the Year 39, Elek, 1971.

Hedda Gabler (based on work of Henrik Ibsen), Ibsen Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario, Canada, 1970, then Roundabout Theatre Company, Playhouse Theatre, New York City, 1971, then Almeida Theatre, London, 1984, later Laurence Olivier Theatre, London, England, 1989, published by Samuel French, 1972.

A Doll's House (based on work by Ibsen), Playhouse Theatre, 1971, then Criterion Theatre, London, 1973, published by Samuel French, Inc., 1972.

Savages (two–act), Royal Court Theatre and Comedy Theatre, both 1973, revised version, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, 1974, then Hudson Guild Theatre, New York City, 1977, published by Faber & Faber, 1973, revised version, Samuel French, 1977.

Treats (two–act), Royal Court Theatre and Mayfair Theatre, both 1976, then Hudson Guild Theatre, 1977, published by Samuel French, 1976.

Signed and Sealed (based on play by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desvallieres), Comedy Theatre, 1976.

After Mercer, National Theatre, London, England, 1980.

The Prague Trial (based on work by Patrice Chereau and Ariane Mnouchkine), Paris Studio, Paris, 1980, then Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, 1989.

(With Ronald Harwood) A Night of the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, London, 1981.

The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H. (two–act; based on novel by George Steiner), Mermaid Theatre, London, 1982, then Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, CT, 1982–83, published by Faber & Faber, 1983.

Tales from Hollywood (two–act), Mark Taper Forum, 1982, later London, 1983, then La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, New York City, 1993, published by Faber & Faber, 1983.

Les liaisons dangereuses (based on novel by Choderlos de Laclos), Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, Stratford–upon–Avon, England, 1985, then Pit Theatre, London, and Ambassador Theatre, both 1986, later Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1987, published by Faber & Faber, 1985, Samuel French, 1986.

White Chameleon, National Theatre Company, Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1991, published by Faber & Faber, 1991.

(With Don Black; and lyricist) Sunset Boulevard (based on screenplay by Billy Wilder and others), music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Adelphi Theatre, London, 1993, then Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles, and Really Useful Theatre Company, Minskoff Theatre, New York City, 1994–97, published by Faber & Faber, 1993, libretto published by H. Leonard, 1995.

(With Martha Clarke) Alice's Adventures Under Ground (based on work by Lewis Carroll), National Theatre Company, Cottesloe Theatre, 1994, published by Faber & Faber, 1995.

An Enemy of the People (based on the work of Ibsen), Williamstown Theatre Festival, Main Stage, Williamstown, MA, 2003, published by Faber & Faber, 1998.

The Three Sisters (two–act; adaption of work by Chekhov), Playhouse Theatre, London, 2003.

The Talking Cure (two–act), National Theatre, 2003, then Mark Taper Forum, 2004, published by Faber & Faber, 2003.

Dracula, the Musical, music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, CA, then Belasco Theatre, New York City, 2004–2005.

Librettist, Waiting for the Barbarians (opera; based on novel by J. M. Coetzee), music by Philip Glass, Erfurt Theatre, Erfurt, Germany, 2005.

Embers (two–act; based on novel by Sandor Marai), Duke of York's Theatre, London, 2006.

Hampton's plays have subsequently been produced widely throughout England and the United States.

Stage Plays; Translator:

Moliere, Don Juan, Theatre Royal, Bristol, England, 1972, then Gate Theatre, 1995, published by Faber & Faber, 1974.

Oedoen von Horvath, Tales from the Vienna Woods, National Theatre Company, Laurence Olivier Theatre, London, 1977, then Arena Stage, Washington, DC, 1978, published by Faber & Faber, 1977.

von Horvath, Don Juan Comes Back from the War, National Theatre Company, Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1978, then Stage 73, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, 1979, published by Faber & Faber, 1978.

Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts, Key Theatre, Peterborough, England, 1978, later Portland, ME, 1988, published as Ghosts: A Family Drama in Three Acts, Samuel French, 1983.

Ibsen, The Wild Duck, National Theatre Company, Laurence Olivier Theatre, 1979, published by Faber & Faber, 1979, then Samuel French, 1983.

Moliere, Tartuffe; or, The Imposter, Royal Shakespeare Company, London, 1983, published by Faber & Faber, 1984.

von Horvath, Faith, Hope and Charity, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1989.

Yasmina Reza, Art, Wyndham's Theatre, London, 1996, then Royale Theatre, New York City, 1998–99, published by Dramatists Play Service, 1999.

Reza, Conversations after a Burial, Almeida Theatre, London, 2000, published by Faber & Faber, 2001.

Reza, The Unexpected Man, Promenade Theatre, New York City, 2000–2001, published by Faber & Faber, 1998.

Reza, Life x 3, National Theatre, 2001, then Circle in the Square, New York City, 2003, published by Dramatists Play Service, 2003.

Don Juan, new translation, Theatre for a New Audience, Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York City, 2003.

Hedda Gabler, new translation, New York Theatre Workshop, New York City, 2004.

Screenplays:

A Doll's House (based on the play by Henrik Ibsen), Paramount, 1973.

(With Maximilian Schell) Tales from the Vienna Woods (based on the play by Oedoen von Horvath; also known as Geschichten aus dem wiener–wald), Constantin, 1979, published by Suhrkamp, 1979.

Beyond the Limit (based on the novel by Graham Greene; also known as The Honorary Consul), Paramount, 1983.

The Good Father (based on the novel by Peter Prince), Skouras, 1986.

The Wolf at the Door (also known as Gauguin: The Wolf at the Door, Gauguin, le loup dans le soleil, and Oviri), Manson, 1986.

Dangerous Liaisons (based on his stage play), Warner Bros., 1988, published by Faber & Faber, 1989.

Carrington, Gramercy, 1995, published by Faber & Faber, 1995.

Total Eclipse (also known as Eclipse totale, Poeti dall'inferno, and Rimbaud Verlaine), Fine Line, 1995, novelization published by Faber & Faber, 1996.

Mary Reilly (based on novel by Valerie Martin), TriStar, 1996.

The Secret Agent (also known as Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent"), Fox Searchlight, 1996.

The Quiet American (also known as The Spy and Der stille Amerikaner), Miramax, 2002.

Imagining Argentina (based on novel by Lawrence Thornton), Artisan Entertainment, 2004.

Songs Featured in Films:

"With One Look," In & Out, Paramount, 1997.

Television Specials:

Total Eclipse, BBC2, 1973.

The Philanthropist, BBC, 1975.

Savages, BBC2, 1975.

Treats, Yorkshire Television, 1977.

"Able's Will," BBC2 Play of the Week, BBC2, 1977, published by Faber & Faber, 1979.

The History Man (adaptation; also known as Malcolm Bradbury's "The History Man"), BBC2, 1981.

Marya, BBC, 1981.

(Translator) Tartuffe, or The Imposter, 1983.

Hotel du Lac (based on work by Anita Brookner), Arts and Entertainment, 1986.

Teljes napfogyatkozas (also known as Total Eclipse), 1989.

"Tales from Hollywood" (based on his stage play; also known as "Rozpravky z Hollywoodu"), American Playhouse, PBS, 1992.

Television Miniseries:

"The Ginger Tree," Masterpiece Theatre, PBS, 1990, published by Faber & Faber, 1989.

Radio Scripts:

2 Children Free to Wander (documentary), 1969.

Uncle Vanya, 1970.

Don Juan, BBC 3, 1972.

The Prague Trial 79 (based on story by Patrice Chereau and Ariane Mnouchkine), 1980.

Collected Works:

Christopher Hampton, Plays 1: Total Eclipse, The Philanthropist, Savages, Treats, Faber & Faber, 1997.

Collected Screenplays, Faber & Faber, 2002.

Other:

Contributor to periodicals, including Guardian and Independent.

ADAPTATIONS

The songs and music from Sunset Boulevard were recorded on the album Sunset Boulevard: From "Sunset Boulevard," released by H. Leonard in 1995.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 4, Gale, 1975.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 13: British Dramatists since World War II, Tale, 1982.

Free, William J., Christopher Hampton: An Introduction to His Plays, Borgo Press, 1994.

Gross, Robert, editor, Christopher Hampton: A Casebook, Garland Publishing, 1990.

International Dictionary of Theatre, Volume 2: Playwrights, St. James Press, 1993.

Periodicals:

Back Stage West, November 14, 1996, p. 6.

Guardian (London), April 28, 1993, pp. S6–S7; September 12, 1995, pp. 2.12–2.13.

Independent, October 9, 1996, pp. S4–S5.

Variety, June 19, 1995, p. 8.