Ray Cooney
Encyclopedia
Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE
(born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright
and actor
. His biggest success, Run for Your Wife, lasted nine years in London's West End
and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there.
s of Brian Rix throughout the fifties and sixties. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play One For The Pot.
Together with Tony Hilton, he co-wrote the screenplay for the British comedy film What a Carve Up!
(1961), featuring Sid James
and Kenneth Connor
.
Cooney co-wrote a farce with his son Michael, Tom, Dick and Harry. Cooney's farces combine a traditional British bawdiness with structural complication, as characters leap to assumptions, are forced to pretend to be things that they aren't, and often talk at cross-purposes to hilarious effect.
In 1983, Cooney created the Theatre of Comedy Company and became its artistic director. During his tenure the company produced over twenty plays such as Pygmalion
starring Peter O'Toole
and John Thaw
, Loot
, and Run For Your Wife.
Cooney has also appeared on TV and in several movies, including a movie adaptation of his successful theatrical farce Not Now, Darling
(1973), which he co-wrote with John Roy Chapman
.
In 2005, Cooney was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire
in recognition of his services to drama.
Ray Cooney is greatly admired in France where he is known as "Le Feydeau anglais", which means "The English Feydeau", in reference to the French playwright Georges Feydeau
who wrote French Farces. A far more complete biography of Ray Cooney is available on French wikipedia.
and wrote the original screenplay for the film Identity
starring John Cusack
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. His biggest success, Run for Your Wife, lasted nine years in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there.
Biography
Cooney began acting in 1946, and appeared in many of the Whitehall farceWhitehall farce
Whitehall farce is a descriptive term applied to a series of improbable events that caused grief at the time to everyone involved but could—perhaps only with distance or hindsight—be considered comical....
s of Brian Rix throughout the fifties and sixties. It was during this time that he co-wrote his first play One For The Pot.
Together with Tony Hilton, he co-wrote the screenplay for the British comedy film What a Carve Up!
What a Carve Up! (film)
What a Carve Up! is a 1961 British comedy horror film directed by Pat Jackson. It was released in the United States in 1962 as No Place Like Homicide...
(1961), featuring Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
and Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films.-Career:...
.
Cooney co-wrote a farce with his son Michael, Tom, Dick and Harry. Cooney's farces combine a traditional British bawdiness with structural complication, as characters leap to assumptions, are forced to pretend to be things that they aren't, and often talk at cross-purposes to hilarious effect.
In 1983, Cooney created the Theatre of Comedy Company and became its artistic director. During his tenure the company produced over twenty plays such as Pygmalion
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
starring Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
and John Thaw
John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
, Loot
Loot (play)
Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
, and Run For Your Wife.
Cooney has also appeared on TV and in several movies, including a movie adaptation of his successful theatrical farce Not Now, Darling
Not Now, Darling (film)
Not Now, Darling is a 1973 British comedy film adapted from the play of the same title by John Chapman and Ray Cooney. The plot is a farce centered around a fur coat shop in central London...
(1973), which he co-wrote with John Roy Chapman
John Roy Chapman
John Roy Chapman was a British writer.His best know work was Not Now, Darling, a play which he co-wrote with Ray Cooney. He was sole writer of the screenplay of the film adaptation. He also wrote the play and screen adaptation of Dry Rot .-External links:****...
.
In 2005, Cooney was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in recognition of his services to drama.
Ray Cooney is greatly admired in France where he is known as "Le Feydeau anglais", which means "The English Feydeau", in reference to the French playwright Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
who wrote French Farces. A far more complete biography of Ray Cooney is available on French wikipedia.
Personal life
Cooney's son Michael is a screenwriterScreenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and wrote the original screenplay for the film Identity
Identity (film)
Identity is a 2003 American thriller-mystery film, directed by James Mangold and written by Michael Cooney. The film stars John Cusack, Ray Liotta, John C. McGinley and Amanda Peet. The plot was inspired by Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None.-Plot:Malcolm Rivers is awaiting...
starring John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
.