Kenneth Branagh

At almost fifty years old, it can be said that Kenneth Branagh is one of the most famous British filmmakers. It is true that as an actor he does not have a memorable filmography, but as a recuperator of William Shakespeare he has justly been called the heir to Sir Laurence Olivier . Indeed, only a few souls deeply involved with the theatrical works of the British genius from Stratford-Upon-Avon have managed to convey with convincing fidelity the passions of his fictional heroes and heroines to the celluloid screen. And one of them is Kenneth Branagh.

Born in Belfast on December 10, 1960, Kenneth Charles Branagh is the third child of a working-class Protestant family. Due to the violence in Northern Ireland, the family moved to Reading, England when Kenneth was 9 years old. You only have to watch his movies to realize that Kenneth is a smart and active guy, and he also showed it from a young age. He was captain of the school soccer team and wrote regularly for a local magazine. But his vital ambitions changed radically when at the age of 15 he saw the actor Derek Jacobi–with whom years later he would work on numerous occasions– in the leading role of “Hamlet”. That changed his life and young Kenneth decided that he would be an actor. Thus, he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and soon worked in many theatrical productions, such as “Another Country”, which won him various awards. It was, however, his participation in “Henry V” by the Royal Shakespeare Company that would make him most famous and place him at the top of the greatest promises of British theater. Kenneth was 23 years old. The theater was then his great passion, although he had begun to make his first steps for the cinema and the small screen. Thus he appeared, albeit discredited, in Chariots of Fire , and later in the television series Play for Tomorrow .. His first important role was obtained in the telefilm To the Lighthouse (1983). Meanwhile, the young actor founded his own theater company, called Renaissance, with which he produced and performed Shakespearean works such as “Twelfth Night”, “Much Ado About Nothing” or “Hamlet”. It was then that a large part of the critics considered him the new Laurence Olivier.

Meanwhile, Kenneth continued to work for television in small roles, for series like Boy in the Bush or Play for Today , and movies like Coming Through (1985), in which he played the writer DH Lawrence , and Ghosts , based on a play by Henry Ibsen . In 1987, at the age of 27, he did his first two film jobs: A Month in the Country , opposite Colin Firth , and High Season , with Jacqueline Bisset . But that year the most relevant thing in his life is that he met the actress Emma Thompson in the series Fortunes of War.. They fell in love and two years later they got married. With her by his side, Kenneth Branagh’s film career took off into the sky.

The same year as their wedding they both filmed Enrique V (1989) . Kenneth Branagh debuted as a director with that adaptation of Shakespeare, for which he was also the screenwriter and lead actor. The film is absolutely memorable – who doesn’t remember his famous speech before the battle of Agincourt? – and the pair’s on-screen connection was excellent. The film was nominated for three Oscars, although it only won Best Costume Design. With his wife he would shoot three more films: the disturbing thriller To Die Yet (1991), the picaresque comedy Peter’s Friends (1992) and the wonderful Much Ado About Nothing, again adapted from Shakespeare. But unfortunately the Branagh-Thompson partnership ended in 1995, with the couple’s divorce. They would not work together again. In 2003 Branagh remarried to art director Lindsay Brunnock.

But after the break with Thompson Branagh he continued directing notable works. In 1994 he had shot an interesting adaptation of a nineteenth-century horror classic: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley . In 1995 he premiered En lo más crudo del invierno , a fun and original film that was his personal tribute to the world of theater. In 1996 came his most ambitious project: Hamlet (1996). Branagh was in charge of writing, directing and acting and the result was the most lavish, extensive and brilliant adaptation of the famous work of the Prince of Denmark. The height of production reached so much that Branagh had critics who called him a megalomaniac. What is clear is that the effort took its toll, because he did not return behind the cameras until four years later, with the adaptation of the lighter comedies  Love’s Labour’s Lost and later As You Like It (2006). He then left the English bard aside and chose to bring The Magic Flute , an adaptation of Mozart’s opera, to the screen, with more than satisfactory results. His last work as a director was somewhat disconcerting: La huella, unnecessary remake of the 1972 film.

But as we have pointed out above, Branagh has also acted in multiple more or less commercial films. Some of his best appearances came in Othello (1995) , where he played the jealous Yago; in The Final Solution , set in Nazi Germany; in the Australian Stolen Generation , by Phillip Noyce ; in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , where he played the funny Professor Gilderoy Lockhart; and in Valkyrie , where he helped Tom Cruise in his attempt against Hitler. In 2011, Branagh plans to return to directing with a bold film, Thor , an adaptation of the famous comic created byStan Lee and Jack Kirby , inspired by the hero from Norse mythology.