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Pictures of Rowan Atkinson
By peace | March 29, 2007
Rowan Atkinson in Universal Pictures’ Bean II – 2007
After university, Atkinson toured with Angus Deayton as his straight man. The show was filmed for television, and its success allowed him to develop a successful stand-up, writing and radio career.
In 1978 he was offered his own television series by ITV but turned it down in favour of Not the Nine O’Clock News, produced by his friend John Lloyd, in which he starred with Pamela Stephenson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith. Atkinson was one of the show’s main sketch writers.
Rowan Atkinson in Universal’s Johnny English – 2003
Atkinson’s other famous creation, the hapless Mr. Bean, first appeared in 1988 in a half-hour special for Thames Television. The character of Mr. Bean has been likened somewhat to a modern-day Charlie Chaplin. Several sequels followed at irregular intervals, before the character transferred to film in 1997. Entitled Bean, it was directed by Mel Smith, his former co-star from Not the Nine O’Clock News. It supposedly made Atkinson £11 million in fees as writer and actor.
Rowan Atkinson in Universal’s Johnny English – 2003
In 2003, Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in a 2005 poll to find The Comedian’s Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Rowan Atkinson and Natalie Imbruglia in Universal’s Johnny English – 2003
Atkinson’s film career began in 1983 with a supporting part in the James Bond vehicle Never Say Never Again and a leading role in Dead on Time with Nigel Hawthorne. He appeared in former Not the Nine O’Clock News co-star Mel Smith’s directorial debut The Tall Guy in 1989 and gained further notice with his turn as a verbally bumbling vicar in the 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral; the same year he featured in Walt Disney’s Lion King as Zazu the Hornbill.
Kristin Scott Thomas and Rowan Atkinson in ThinkFilm’s Keeping Mum – 2006
His television character Mr. Bean debuted on the big screen in 1997 with Bean, an international success. 2001′s Rat Race saw Atkinson continue in slapstick style. He then took the lead role in the James Bond parody Johnny English (2003). That year he also appeared in a small role in the star-studded Love Actually. Keeping Mum (2005, released in the U.S. in 2006) was a departure for Atkinson, starring in a straight role. Work on a Bean sequel completed in 2006 and the film is set for a March 2007 release. Atkinson says it will be the last time he plays the character.
Rowan Atkinson and Wayne Knight in Paramount’s Rat Race – 2001
Atkinson was a stutterer as a child, a condition which sometimes returns when he is in stressful situations. In particular, the letter “B” posed a problem for him. He managed to overcome this through over-articulation; however, this evolved into one of his trademark comic devices (his pronunciation of “Bob” in Blackadder being a famous example). His other trademark is his Received Pronunciation (RP) British accent.
Atkinson’s comedy style, which is rigorously planned and scripted — partly to ensure his stress and stutter is minimised — is often visually-based. It results in comedy as performance — like Charlie Chaplin — rather than as observation or discussion, as many of the routines of the time were. Atkinson’s talent for visual comedy has seen him described as “the man with the rubber face”.
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