Bill Bryden

{{Short description|Scottish stage and film director and screenwriter (1942–2022)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Bill Bryden

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = William Campbell Rough Bryden

| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|04|12|df=y}}

| birth_place = Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland

| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|01|05|1942|04|12|df=y}}

| death_place =

| occupation = Theatre director

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Deborah Morris|1970|1988|end=div}}
{{marriage|Angela Douglas|2009}}

}}

| children = 2

| yearsactive =

| website =

| awards = Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director (1985)

}}

William Campbell Rough Bryden {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (12 April 1942 – 5 January 2022) was a Scottish stage and film director and screenwriter.

Early life and career

He worked as a trainee with Scottish Television before becoming assistant director at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, in 1965. He then worked as a director at the Royal Court Theatre (1967–1971), the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (1972–1975), Associate Director at the National Theatre (1975–1985); and as a visiting director in Glasgow and New York.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ubr35UeE-UQC&dq=willie+rough+cambridge+guide+to+theatre&pg=PA47|title=The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre|first=Martin|last=Banham|date=March 7, 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521446549|via=Google Books}} In 1990, he directed Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, at the Royal Opera House.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/21/the-cunning-little-vixen|title=The Cunning Little Vixen | Opera review|date=March 21, 2010|website=The Guardian}} He was Head of Television Drama at BBC Scotland (1984-1993) and has also done other work for film and television, as screenwriter, director and executive producer.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba24e379f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823043643/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba24e379f|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 August 2018|title=Bill Bryden|website=BFI}}

Personal life and death

In 1970 he married the Hon. Deborah Morris, a potter, who was a daughter of IOC President Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin. They had two children, Dillon and Mary Kate. The couple divorced in 1988.

In the same year, he met actress Angela Douglas at a dinner party arranged by mutual friend Marsha Hunt.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-bill-bryden-and-angela-douglas-1376274.html|title=How We Met: Bill Bryden and Angela Douglas|work=The Independent|date=1994-08-14|access-date=2009-05-09| location=London| first=Sue| last=Fox}} They lived together in west London and were married at City Hall, New York City, in February 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/16988107.carry-actress-angela-douglas-wrote-first-book---35-years-later---follow-up/|title=Carry On actress Angela Douglas on how she wrote her first book and – 35 years later – her follow-up|website=HeraldScotland|date=20 October 2018 }}

National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1316/11) with Bill Bryden in 2009 for its Legacy of the English Stage Company collection held by the British Library.[https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Theatre/021M-C1316X0011XX-0001V0 National Life Stories, 'Bryden, Bill (1 of 6) National Life Stories Collection: The Legacy of the English Stage Company', The British Library Board, 2009]. Retrieved 21 February 2018

Bryden died on 5 January 2022, at the age of 79.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/national-theatre-helen-mirren-john-hurt-london-scottish-b1988013.html|title=Theatre director Bill Bryden dies aged 79|date=January 6, 2022|first=Lucinda|last=Cameron|website=The Independent|access-date=January 6, 2022}}

Honours

Bryden was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1993.

Work

= Film director =

1983: Ill Fares the Land
1986: The Holy City
1987: Aria (segment)
1992: Six Characters in Search of an Author

= Writer =

1975: Benny Lynch, Scenes from a Short Life : a Play [https://books.google.com/books?id=80APAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Benny++Lynch%22 Benny Lynch: Scenes from a Short Life : a Play]
1976: Willie Rough, a BBC Play for Today
1977: Old Movies
1980: The Long Riders (film)
1981: Civilians, a playStevenson, Randall (1981), Scottish Theatre Company: First Days, First Nights, in Murray, Glen (ed.), Cencrastus No. 7, Winter 1981–82, pp. 10–13

= Theatre director =

File:The Ship by Bill Bryden.jpg

1972: Kidnapped – Royal Lyceum
1974: Romeo and Juliet - Old Vic
1974: Spring Awakening – Old Vic
1974: Romeo and Juliet – Old Vic
1975: The Playboy of the Western World – Old Vic
1976: Watch It Come Down – Old Vic then National Theatre
1976: Il Campiello – National Theatre
1976: Counting the Ways – National Theatre
1977 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): The Passion – National Theatre
1977: Old Movies – National Theatre
1977: The Plough and the Stars – National Theatre
1978 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): Lark Rise – National Theatre
1978: American Buffalo – National Theatre
1978 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): The World Turned Upside Down – National Theatre
1978: The Long Voyage Home – National Theatre
1978: Dispatches – National Theatre
1979 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): Candleford – National Theatre
1980: Hughie – National Theatre
1980: The Iceman Cometh – National Theatre
1980: The Nativity – National Theatre
1980: The Crucible – National Theatre
1981: Civilians (writer & director) - Scottish Theatre Company
1982: Don Quixote - National Theatre
1982: A Midsummer Night's Dream – National Theatre
1983: Glengarry Glen Ross – National Theatre (World Premiere) then Mermaid Theatre, London
1983: Cinderella - National Theatre
1984: Golden Boy - National Theatre
1985: Doomsday, presented with The Nativity and The Passion, as the Mysteries from medieval Mystery plays in a version by Tony Harrison – National Theatre
1989: A Life in the Theatre - Theatre Royal then Strand Theatre, London
1989: Op Hoop Van Zegen - Ro Theatre Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1990: The Ship (writer & director) Harland & Wolff Shed, Govan, Glasgow
1994: A Month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev, starring Helen Mirren and John Hurt. Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and West End
1994: The Big Picnic (writer & director) - Harland & Wolff, Govan, Glasgow
1995: Son of Man - The Pit, RSC, London
1996: Uncle Vanya - Minerva Theatre, Chichester then Albery Theare, London
1999: The Mysteries - The Nativity - National Theatre
1999: The Mysteries - The Passion - National Theatre
1999: The Mysteries - Doomsday - National Theatre
2001: The Good Hope – National Theatre
2005: Romeo and Juliet – Birmingham Repertory Theatre
2005: The Creeper – Theatre Royal Windsor