Oscar Profile #168: Emma Thompson

Born April 15, 1959, to well-known British actors Bill Thompson and Phyllida Law, Emma Thompson was educated at the Camden School for Girls. At eighteen she began studying for a degree in English at Cambridge University from which she would graduate in 1982. While there she became a member of the prestigious Footlights comedy sketch group along with fellow actors Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. It was there that she honed her comic writing and acting skills.

In various TV comedy shows from 1982, Thompson had her breakthrough role opposite Robert Lindsay in the 1985 London revival of the musical Me and My Girl but did not follow the show’s triumph to Broadway with Lindsay. Instead she turned to TV where she had two high profile roles in 1987 in Fortunes of War opposite future husband Kenneth Branagh and Tutti Frutti opposite Robbie Coltrane. She made her big screen debut in 1989’s The Tall Guy opposite Jeff Goldbum. Later that year she appeared as Princess Katherine in Brangah’s film of Henry V.

Roles in 1991’s Impromptu and Dead Again increased her visibility and 1992’s Howards End brought her world-wide acclaim, earning her numerous awards including the Golden Globe, the Oscar and the BAFTA. The following year’s The Remains of the Day proved equally successful, earning her more nominations and awards. With her supporting performance in the same year’s In the Name of the Father she became the first and only performer since Teresa Wright in 1941-42 to receive three Oscar nominations for acting in two years. As accomplished a writer as she is an actress, her first big screen writing, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 1995, earned her a fourth acting nomination and her first for writing. Her win in the latter category made her the first and only person thus far to win Oscars for both acting and writing.

Thompson’s marriage and professional association with Branagh came to a screeching halt in 1995 over his affair with Helena Bonham Carter who had played her sister in Howards End though she remains friends with both She would marry second and current husband, actor Greg Wise, in 2003. In the interim she would again achieve dual nominations for acting and writing, this time at the 2001 Emmys for Wit which she adapted from the successful Broadway play.

The landmark 2003 mini-series, Angles in America, brought Thompson a second Emmy nomination for her portrayal of three characters. She lost to co-star Meryl Streep who also played three characters. That same year earned her kudos for the ensemble comedy, Love Actually. The following year she took a role in Alfonso Cuaron’s film of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the first of two Harry Potter films she would make, to impress her then one year-old daughter.

Thompson both wrote and starred in 2005’s Nanny McPhee and 2010’s Nanny McPhee Returns based on the Nurse Matilda books. She has continued to play both leading and supporting characters with relish. In 2008, for example, she starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in Last Chance Harvey and played Lady Marchmain in the big screen version of Brideshead Revisited. She voiced the mother in 2012’s Oscar winning Best Animated Feature, Brave, and is expected to receive her fifth Oscar nomination for acting in 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks.

With two films in post-production, a third currently filming in New York and a fourth in pre-production, Emma Thompson shows no sign of slowing down as she approaches her 55th birthday.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

HOWARDS END (1992), directed by James Ivory

Ivory’s pristine film version of E.M. Forster’s novel earned the director the second of three Oscar nominations and the third of four for his partner Ismail Merchant for producing the film, which earned their long-time collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala her second Oscar for writing. It also won Oscars for Art Direction and for Best Actress, Thompson in a beautifully wrought portrayal of an open-minded intellectual slowly transforming into a class-conscious social climber and back again. Despite outstanding performances from Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter and Oscar nominated Vanessa Redgrave, Thompson’s Margaret Schlegel remains the heart and soul of the film in what many still consider the best of her many fine screen performances.

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993), directed by James Ivory

Another multi-Oscar nominated film from the Ismael-Ivory-Jhabvala team starring Hopkins and Thompson, this one an insightful adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel about a butler who in the end regrets the life he held fast to. This time it’s Hopkins’ character who earns our sympathy, but Thompson is no slouch either as his foil, an equally lonely housekeeper. Both Hopkisn and Thompson were nominated for numerous awards including the Oscar for their fine work.

The film, which is set against the background of World War II features fine supporting turns from James Fox, Hugh Grant and Christopher Reeve and is exquisitely lit, costumed and scored.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993), directed by Jim Sheridan

Sheridan’s film about the Irish “troubles” belongs to Daniel Day-Lewis as the falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned protagonist and Pete Postlethwaite as his equally wronged father in this gripping melodrama based on a true story.

Thompson’s role is limited as she only comes into the story after Day-Lewis has spent fifteen years in prison for an I.R.A. bombing he had nothing to do with, but she makes the most of her screen time, earning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination to go with her lead one for The Remains of the Day, making her only the second performer to date to earn three acting nominations in two years. Teresa Wright in 1941-42, was the first.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995), directed by Ang Lee

Thompson became the first and only person to date to win Oscars for both acting and writing when she won for her nicely nuanced adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel.

Sensitively directed by Lee, this is one of the best adaptations of Austen ever attempted. Thompson and Kate Winslet, both nominated for Oscars for their performances, are perfection as the titular sisters with Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman equally fine as their suitors.

The cinematography, art direction, costume design and musical score are also of note here with many fine character players adding to the charm of the film.

SAVING MR. BANKS (2013), directed by John Lee Hancock

Thompson is on the brink of receiving her first Oscar nomination in 18 years with her sublime portrayal of Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers opposite Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.

The film takes place over the course of two weeks in which Disney tries to close the deal on making Travers’ books into movies, a pursuit he has had for twenty years. In the end he succeeds in obtaining the rights to just the first book as Travers fights him tooth and nail. Witty and sentimental, the film may not be for all tastes, but Thompson’s no-nonsense portrayal of Travers is undeniably one of the year’s best performances.