Michael Wearing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Howard Wearing (born March 12, 1939 in Southgate , London - † May 5, 2017 ) was a British film and television producer .

Life

Michael Wearing was born in north London in 1939 to Douglas Wearing, a stock exchange clerk, and his wife Molly (née Dawson). He attended Dame Alice Owen's School in Islington and then studied anthropology at the University of Durham . He then worked for two years as a research assistant at the University of Leeds , where he also belonged to a theater group and occasionally directed. In Bromley he then worked as assistant theater director before moving to the Royal Court Theater , where he tried again as a director. When Wearing was touring to direct a stage version of Gogol's Record of the Madman , he met David Rose. Rose, who ran the regional BBC division in Birmingham , hired Wearing as a television dramaturge in 1976 . From 1980 Wearing acted at the BBC as a producer, as he was able to consolidate his position with the television miniseries The History Man in 1981. Especially with two television mini-series, the socially critical, during the Thatcher era gambling workers drama Boys from the Black Stuff (1982) and the conspiracy thriller on the edge of darkness (1985) about the nuclear danger, he was in the UK big success both on which he eventually rose to head the BBC's miniseries department.

His joint production with Sue Birtwistle of the multi-part television program Pride and Prejudice (1995) with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in the leading roles became internationally known . In both Great Britain and the United States , the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jane Austen became a street sweeper . After disputes with the BBC management, he gave up his post at the BBC in 1998. From 1999 he was also responsible for cinema productions, for example for the film drama Alone Against Crime (2000) with Joan Allen and Patrick Bergin and for the thriller Mission Revenge (2010), a feature film version of On the Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson in the lead role .

Michael Wearing has received three Emmy nominations during his career , including for Pride and Prejudice , and five times for the BAFTA TV Award , which he won for Boys from the Blackstuff (1982) and On the Edge of Darkness (1985). In 1997, he also received the BAFTA Honorary Award, the Alan Clarke Award, for television excellence.

Her marriage to the sculptor and photographer Jean Ramsey resulted in daughter Catherine Sophia Wearing (1966–2007), who was also a successful television producer until her unexpected death, and daughter Sadie. After the divorce, Wearing had a longstanding relationship with artist Karen Loader, with whom he lived in Peckham and had two other children: Ella and Benjamin Michael Wearing (* 1989), who works as a cameraman. Michael Wearing died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 78.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1981: The History Man (TV miniseries)
  • 1982: Bird of Prey (TV miniseries)
  • 1982: Boys From the Blackstuff (TV miniseries)
  • 1985: On the Edge of Darkness ( The Edge of Darkness ) (TV miniseries)
  • 1988: Blind Justice (TV miniseries)
  • 1989: First and Last (TV movie)
  • 1990: The Children (TV miniseries)
  • 1991: Ashenden (TV miniseries)
  • 1992: The Leaving of Liverpool (TV movie)
  • 1992: An Ungentlemanly Act (TV movie)
  • 1993: Hour of the Pig ( The Hour of the Pig )
  • 1993: To Play the King (TV miniseries)
  • 1994: The Healer (TV movie)
  • 1994: Martin Chuzzlewit (TV miniseries)
  • 1995: Signs and Wonders (TV movie)
  • 1995: Tears Before Bedtime (TV miniseries)
  • 1995: Pride and Prejudice ( Pride and Prejudice ) (TV miniseries)
  • 1995: The Final Cut (TV miniseries)
  • 1996: Our Friends in the North (TV miniseries)
  • 1997: Have Your Cake and Eat It (TV miniseries)
  • 1997: Nostromo - The Treasure in the Mountains ( Nostromo ) (TV miniseries)
  • 1998: Vanity Fair ( Vanity Fair ) (TV miniseries)
  • 1999: Great Expectations (TV movie)
  • 1999: Aristocrats (TV miniseries)
  • 2000: Nature Boy (TV miniseries)
  • 2000: Alone Against Crime ( When the Sky Falls )
  • 2003: Mystics - gangsters, ghosts and their masters ( Mystics )
  • 2005: Red Mercury
  • 2010: Order Vengeance ( Edge of Darkness )

Awards

BAFTA TV Award

Nominated:

  • 1982: The History Man (with Robert Knights)
  • 1989: Blind Justice (with Peter Flannery, Rob Walker and Michael White)
  • 1990: First and Last (with Michael Frayn and Alan Dossor)

Won:

Emmy

Nominated:

  • 1995: Martin Chuzzlewit (with Rebecca Eaton and Chris Parr)
  • 1996: Pride and Prejudice (with Sue Birtwistle )
  • 1999: Great Expectations (with Rebecca Eaton and David Snodin)

CableACE Award

Nominated:

  • 1993: Ashenden (with Julian Hope, Christopher Morahan, David Pirie and Michael John Knatchbull)
  • 1997: Ivanhoe (with Chris Parr and Jeremy Gwilt)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Anthony Hayward: Michael Wearing obituary . In: The Guardian , May 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b Peckham pays tribute to revered and loveable film producer Michael Wearing . In: Southwark News on May 18, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b Simon Farquhar: Michael Wearing . In: The Times , June 27, 2017, cf. Michael Wearing obituary - Simon Farquhar on pebblemill.org.
  4. ^ Soap Opera and Satire . In: Der Spiegel , February 19, 1996.
  5. ↑ Ben Dowell: Bafta winner Wearing dies at 41 . In: The Guardian , January 10, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Wearing, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wearing, Michael Howard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British film and television producer
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Southgate , London , England , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH 5th May 2017