Tim Bevan (born in Queenstown, New Zealand, in 1958) has been a very influential figure in British cinema from the mid '80s, when he co-founded Working Title Productions with
Sarah Radclyffe and produced such to-the-point contemporary dramas as My
Beautiful Laundrette (d. Stephen Frears, 1986) and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (d. Frears, 1987). His
work has been genuinely international in scope: the Oscar-winning Fargo
(d. Joel Coen, 1996), on which he was executive producer, is technically a British film but
culturally American; Four Weddings and a Funeral (d. Mike Newell, 1994) and Notting
Hill (UK/US, d. Roger Michell, 1999) involve American finance but are in matters of
national identity clearly British; some, like Loch Ness (d. John Henderson, 1996), are
wholly British, others, like Bob Roberts (US, d. Tim Robbins, 1992), wholly American. As
either producer or executive producer, his name has been on some of the key
films of the 20th century's last decade, and he shared a BAFTA and London Critics'
Circle Award for Elizabeth (d. Shekhar Kapur, 1998) with (1998) with co-chairman, Eric
Fellner, and they were named producers of the year at the Cinema Expo
International, 2001. He married Joely Richardson in 1992, they were separated in
1997. Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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