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John Osborne

British playwright John Osborne changed the face of English theatre in the 1950s with the brutal realism of 'Look Back in Anger'. When Laurence Olivier took Arthur Miller and his then wife, Marilyn Monroe, to see the production, he was taken aback, but Miller convinced him it was a pre-cursor to a sea-change and Olivier consequently asked Osborne to write a play for him. The result was a fabulous observation on the decaying empire with the famous Shakespearean actor stunning audiences as a vulgar old vaudevillian at the end of his career in 'The Entertainer'. For Osborne and his contemporaries, dubbed 'the angry young men', the theatre was a place to challenge prejudice and traditional class barriers. Married five times, he died on Christmas Eve 1994 following complications from diabetes. "Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs." - John Osborne

Colonel Redl (1984)

7.7/10
Director: Istvan Szabo
Starring: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Hans Christian Blech, Gudrun Landgre...

Klaus Maria Brandauer stars in this epic story of intrigue, love and lust, set in Austria during the years leading up to WWI. Adapted from John Osborn... Read more

John Osborne and the Gift Of Friendship (2006)

8.8/10
Director: Tony Palmer
Starring: John Osborne

In 1956 John Osborne forever changed the look of British theatre with his emotionally charged play "Look Back in Anger". Acclaimed director Tony Palme... Read more

Look Back in Anger (1989)

7.2/10
Director: David Jones, Judi Dench
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson

John Osborne's classic, searing post-war drama caused a sensation when it was published in 1956. In the figure of Jimmy Porter, Osborne had unleashed... Read more

Look Back In Anger (1958)

8.4/10
Director: Tony Richardson
Starring: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Mary Ure, Edith Evans, Gary Raymond

Richard Burton is perfectly cast as angry young Brit Jimmy Porter, in this scathingly realistic look at British life in the 1950s. Bristling with heat... Read more

Luther (1974)

6.8/10
Director: Guy Green
Starring: Stacy Keach, Patrick Magee, Hugh Griffith, Judi Dench

It seems fitting that theatre's protesting, angry young man John Osborne ("Look Back in Anger", "The Entertainer") should write a play about one of hi... Read more

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)

6.7/10
Director: Tony Richardson
Starring: John Gielgud, David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Trevor Howard

October 25, 1854: Balaclava, the Crimea; military minds blunder and six hundred gallant Britishers, sabres flashing, ride to their deaths. David Hemmi... Read more

The Charge of the Light Brigade (Blu-ray) (1968)

7.1/10
Director: Tony Richardson
Starring: John Gielgud, David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Trevor Howard

October 25, 1854: Balaclava, the Crimea; military minds blunder and six hundred gallant Britishers, sabres flashing, ride to their deaths. David Hemmi... Read more

Tom Jones (1963)

6.7/10
Director: Tony Richardson
Starring: Albert Finney, Hugh Griffith, Susannah York, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, Diane...

A magnificent adaptation of Henry Fielding's novel about the bawdy exploits of a rustic playboy in 18th Century England. Spirited performances and ima... Read more