Ron Hutchinson (born 8 November 1946) is a Northern Irish screenwriter, playwright, and author. He is a four-time
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
nominee, winning once for writing the screenplay for the television film ''
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story'' (1989).
Career
Among his other productions were ''
Slave of Dreams
''Slave of Dreams'' is a 1995 television film based on the story of Joseph in the Bible, directed by Robert M. Young, produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis and written by Ron Hutchinson. The film stars Adrian Pasdar as Joseph, ...
'' (directed by
Robert M. Young), the play ''Moonlight and Magnolias'', and the 2004 miniseries ''
Traffic
Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
''.
He has written extensively for theatre. In 2004, Hutchinson wrote ''Moonlight and Magnolias''. The play at the
Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...
in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for the 2004
Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work. ''The Irish Play'' was performed in a
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
production at the Royal Shakespeare Company Warehouse Theatre in London, England with Ron Cook,
Brenda Fricker
Brenda Fricker (born 17 February 1945) is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Awar ...
, and P.G. Stephens in the cast.
Barry Kyle
Barry Albert Kyle (born 25 March 1947, in Bow, London) is an English theatre director, currently Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, England.
Kyle attended Beal Grammar School in Ilford and then studied drama and Engli ...
was director. Writing in ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' in 2005, David Rooney found the
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has gr ...
's production of ''Moonlight and Magnolias'' to be a "flimsy comedy", but that "despite its superficial exploration of anti-Semitism in 1939 Hollywood, the play is not without its pleasures".
Reviewing the
Tricycle Theatre
The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as ...
's production of the play for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' two years later,
Charles Spencer called it a "delightful screwball comedy that is also a valentine to the golden days of Hollywood. A prolific screenwriter himself, who knows what it is to be holed up in a hotel room at two in the morning with a script to doctor for the following day's shoot, Hutchinson has come up with a comedy of panache that's certainly worth giving a damn about."
In April 2019,
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
broadcast Hutchinson's ''Ship of Lies'', a five-part drama based on some of the
legends and myths regarding RMS ''Titanic''.
Personal life
Hutchinson was brought up and educated in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
. He now lives in Los Angeles, California with his second wife and adopted daughter.
Filmography
*''
Second City Firsts
''Second City Firsts'' is a British drama anthology series of single plays, broadcast by the BBC, all lasting thirty minutes. Recorded at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham, or sometimes filmed on location, the series was broadcast between 1973 and 19 ...
''
** Twelve Off the Belt (1977) (writer)
*''
Play for Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...
''
** The Last Window Cleaner (1979) (writer)
** The Out of Town Boys (1979) (writer)
*''
ITV Playhouse
''Playhouse'' is a British television anthology series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour ...
''
** The Winkler (1979) (writer)
*''Premiere''
** Deasey (1979) (writer)
*''Bull Week''
** Saturday (1980) (writer)
** Friday (1980) (writer)
** Thursday (1980) (writer)
** Wednesday (1980) (writer)
** Tuesday (1980) (writer)
*''Bird of Prey''
** Printout Urgent (1982) (writer)
** Process Priority (1982) (writer)
** Mode Murder (1982) (writer)
** Input Classified (1982) (writer)
* ''Bird of Prey 2''
** Trapdoor and Spook (1984) (writer)
** Ducks in a Row (1984) (writer)
** A State-of-the-Art Way to Die (1984) (writer)
** Death and Taxes (1984) (writer)
*''
Connie
Connie is a given name. It is often a pet form (hypocorism) of Concetta, Constance, Cornelia, or Cornelius.
Given name or nickname
Women
* Connie Achurra, Chilean chef
* Connie Binsfeld (1924–2014), American politician
* Connie Booth ...
'' (TV series) (1985)
*''Window, Sir?'' (1986) (writer)
*''Unnatural Causes'' (TV series) (1986)
*''The Marksman'' (TV mini-series) (1987)
*''Dead Man Out'' (TV movie) (teleplay) (1989)
*''Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story'' (TV movie) (written by) (1989)
*''Perfect Witness'' (TV movie) (written by) (1989)
*''
Red King, White Knight
''Red King, White Knight'' is a 1989 American political thriller television film directed by Geoff Murphy and written by Ron Hutchinson. The film stars Tom Skerritt as Bill Stoner, a retired CIA operative who is sent to the Soviet Union to deter ...
'' (written by) (1989)
*''
Prisoner of Honor
''Prisoner of Honor'' is a 1991 British made-for-television drama film directed by Ken Russell and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Oliver Reed and Peter Firth. It was made by Warner Bros. Television and distributed by HBO, and centers on the famou ...
'' (
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
)
*''
The Josephine Baker Story
''The Josephine Baker Story'' is an American television film that first aired on HBO on March 16, 1991. It stars Lynn Whitfield as Josephine Baker, who was an international African-American star, who was especially successful in Europe. The film ...
'' (story / teleplay) (1991)
*''
Blue Ice'' (
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
)
*''
The Burning Season'' (
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
)
*''
Against The Wall'' (
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
)
* ''
Fatherland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
'' (teleplay) (1994)
*''
Slave of Dreams
''Slave of Dreams'' is a 1995 television film based on the story of Joseph in the Bible, directed by Robert M. Young, produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis and written by Ron Hutchinson. The film stars Adrian Pasdar as Joseph, ...
'' (
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
)
*''
The Tuskegee Airmen
''The Tuskegee Airmen'' is a 1995 HBO television movie based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit, the first African-American combat pilots in the United States Army Air Corps, that fought in World War II. The film was directed by Ro ...
'' (teleplay) (1995)
*''
The Island of Dr. Moreau'' (
1996)
*''
Traffic
Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
'' (
2004) (also Executive producer)
*''
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
'' (
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
)
*''
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
'' (written by) (2007)
*''
The Devil's Teardrop'' (adaptation) (2010) (also Executive producer)
Plays
* Says I, Says He (1977)
* Eejits (1978)
* The Irish Play (1980)
* Risky City (1981)
* Into Europe (1981)
* The Dillen (1983)
* Rat In The Skull (1984)
*
Mary, After The Queen (1985)
* Flight (1988)
* Pygmies In The Ruins (1991)
* Burning Issues 2000)
* Lags (2001)
* Beau Brummell (2001)
* Head/Case (2004)
* Moonlight and Magnolias (2004)
* Topless Mum In Dead Hero Shocker!! (2007)
* Durand's Line (2009)
* Paisley & me (2012)
* Dead On Her Feet (2012)
References
External links
Ron Hutchinsonat the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchinson, Ron
Living people
British male screenwriters
Television writers from Northern Ireland
British male television writers
Television producers from Northern Ireland
Male dramatists and playwrights from Northern Ireland
Screenwriters from Northern Ireland
Television editors from Northern Ireland
1946 births