Al Hunter Ashton

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al Hunter Ashton also Al Ashton (* 26. June 1957 in Birmingham , England as Alan Hunter ; † 27. April 2007 in High Wycombe , Buckinghamshire ) was a British actor and screenwriter .

biography

Alan Hunter was born to a working class family . He started writing scripts when he was 15. Like his father, he first worked for a car manufacturer in Longbridge, a district of Birmingham . In his spare time he was on stage as a stand-up comedian and later as a stripper in clubs. From 1975 to 1978 he studied at Manchester Polytechnic's School of Theater and Television with Willy Russell, among others . He received his first professional engagement as an actor with a theater-in-education troupe in Leicestershire active in youth work . He later played in plays by Russell in Liverpool and Derby . He played his first television roles in the early 1980s in series such as Angels and Juliet Bravo . In addition, he continued to write scripts, including on Russell's commission for the BBC television game Teaching Matthew , in which he also took a small role in 1985. He became known in the soap opera Crossroads , at the same time he began his work for the competing series EastEnders , for which he worked as a screenwriter for twenty years.

As an author, he used his real name, which was legally changed to Al Hunter during these years . As an actor, he needed a pseudonym because at that time there was already a colleague named Al Hunter. Since he was in Ashton-under-Lyne at the time, he chose the surname Ashton. He later combined the two into the name by which he was known in the last years of his life.

Hunter Ashton was a fan of Birmingham City Football Club . He tried to include at least one comment about football in all of his plays. The television film The Firm (1988), which he wrote about the hooligan scene around West Ham United (director: Alan Clarke ), became famous . The film was based on a radio play by Ashton and was awarded the Prix ​​Europa in 1990. In 1991 the book for the film Alive and Kicking followed, about a Scottish football team of former drug addicts. Lenny Henry and Robbie Coltrane starred in the flick. Henry also starred in White Goods (1994), which Hunter Ashton wrote the screenplay and co-directed Robert Young .

In 1993, the television film Safe, about homeless youth (directed by Antonia Bird ), for which Hunter wrote the screenplay, won the BAFTA Award .

As an actor he was seen in 2000 as a gladiator instructor in Gladiator .

On April 27, 2007, Al Ashton Hunter died of heart failure.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary for Al Hunter Ashton in: The Guardian
personal data
SURNAME Hunter Ashton, Al
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alan Hunter (maiden name); Al Hunter (as the author); Al Ashton (as an actor)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Birmingham , England
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 2007
Place of death High Wycombe , Buckinghamshire , England