Christopher Hampton

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Writers and critics

Christopher Hampton CBE (born January 26, 1946) is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film Dangerous Liaisons.

Hampton was born to British parents in Fayal, Azores and as a child, lived in Aden, Egypt and Zanzibar. At the age of 13 went to Lancing College, where he won house colours for boxing and distinguished himself as a sergeant in the CCF. In 1964 he went to New College, Oxford, as Sacher Scholar, to study German and French and graduated with a First Class Degree in 1968.

He became involved in theatre at Oxford University and moved on to become the youngest writer ever to have a play performed in the West End in 1966. From 1968-70 he worked as the Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Plays

• 1964 - When Did You Last See My Mother?
• 1967 - Total Eclipse
• 1969 - The Philanthropist
• 1974 - Savages
• 1975 - Treats
• 1984 - Tales From Hollywood

Adaptations

• 1977 - Tales from the Vienna Woods, Ödön von Horváth
• 1985 - Les Liaisons Dangereuses from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos for the Royal Shakespeare Company
• Tartuffe, Molière
• Sunset Boulevard for Andrew Lloyd Webber
• 2006 - Embers from the novel by Sándor Márai

Filmography

• 1973 - A Doll's House(screenwriter) starring Claire Bloom
• 1979 - Tales from the Vienna Woods (screenwriter) (directed by Maximilian Schell)
• 1981 - The History Man (screenwriter) for the BBC
• 1983 - Beyond The Limit (screenwriter)
• 1984 - The Honorary Consul (screenwriter) based on a novel by Graham Greene starring Michael Caine and Richard Gere
• 1986 - The Wolf At The Door (screenwriter)
• 1986 - Hotel Du Lac (screenwriter/ director)
• 1986 - The Good Father (screenwriter) based on a novel by Peter Prince
• 1986 - Arriving Tuesday (producer)
• 1988 - Dangerous Liaisons (play author/ screenwriter/ co-producer) directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer
• 1989 - Cookie (screenwriter)
• 1995 - Carrington (screenwriter/director)
• 1989 - The Ginger Tree for BBC
• 1989 - Tales From Hollywood for BBC
• 1995 - Total Eclipse (play author/ screenwriter/ actor: The Judge) directed by Agnieszka Holland, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and David Thewlis
• 1996 - Mary Reilly (screenwriter) based on the Valerie Martin novel about Dr. Jekyll's housemaid, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich
• 1996 - The Secret Agent (screenwriter/ director) based on a Joseph Conrad novel, starring Gérard Depardieu, Bob Hoskins and Patricia Arquette
• 2002 - The Quiet American (screenwriter)
• 2003 - Imagining Argentina (screenwriter/ director)
• 2007 - Atonement (screenwriter)
• 2008 - Sunset Boulevard (original material)
• 2008 - Tokyo Rose (screenwriter)

Translation Work

• The Seagull
• Uncle Vanya
• Hedda Gabler
• Don Juan by Molière

• 1973 - A Doll's House
• 1996 - Art by Yasmina Reza
• 2000 - Conversations After A Burial by Yasmina Reza
• 1981 - The History Man (screenwriter)