John Hopkins (writer)
Encyclopedia
John Richard Hopkins was an English
film
, stage
, and television
writer.
Born in southwest London
, he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge
. He began his career as a studio manager for BBC Television
in the 1950s, before establishing himself as a writer on the BBC's popular police drama Z-Cars
during the early 1960s. Hopkins eventually wrote over ninety episodes of Z-Cars, one of which featured young actress Judi Dench
in the role of a delinquent youngster. This character inspired Hopkins to write what is probably his most remembered work for the small screen, the four-part play sequence Talking to a Stranger
(1966). Starring Dench and transmitted as part of BBC2
's Theatre 625
anthology series, the plays told the story of one bleak weekend from the viewpoints of four members of the same family.
His plays for the stage included Next of Kin, which was produced at the National Theatre in 1974 with Harold Pinter
directing.
Television work included the 1976 Play for Today
A Story to Frighten the Children, and the 1982 adaptation of John le Carré
's novel Smiley's People
, starring Alec Guinness
, both for the BBC
; and the 1988 Cold War
espionage thriller Codename: Kyril
for ITV
.
In film
, Hopkins provided finishing touches to the screenplay for the 1965
James Bond
movie Thunderball
, and also worked on the script for the 1972
film adaptation of Man of La Mancha
, although he was removed from this project by United Artists
when they discovered that his draft omitted most of the songs from the musical. In 1968, his stage play This Story of Yours opened, impressing actor Sean Connery
so much that he chose it as a personal film project under the working title Something Like the Truth. Connery also acted in the film version, directed by Sidney Lumet
and released in 1972 as The Offence
. In 1986
Hopkins wrote, directed, and produced the film Torment.
Hopkins died at his home in Woodland Hills, California
, United States
in July 1998 following an accident in which he slipped, hit his head and fell unconscious into his swimming pool, where he drowned.
. In 1969 he married the American actress Shirley Knight
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
, and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
writer.
Born in southwest London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St. Catharine’s College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473, the college is often referred to informally by the nickname "Catz".-History:...
. He began his career as a studio manager for BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
in the 1950s, before establishing himself as a writer on the BBC's popular police drama Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
during the early 1960s. Hopkins eventually wrote over ninety episodes of Z-Cars, one of which featured young actress Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
in the role of a delinquent youngster. This character inspired Hopkins to write what is probably his most remembered work for the small screen, the four-part play sequence Talking to a Stranger
Talking to a Stranger
Talking to a Stranger is a British television drama, produced by the BBC and made up of four separate plays telling the story of one weekend from the viewpoints of four different members of the same family. Originally transmitted on BBC2 as part of the Theatre 625 anthology strand, the four...
(1966). Starring Dench and transmitted as part of BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Theatre 625
Theatre 625
Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line...
anthology series, the plays told the story of one bleak weekend from the viewpoints of four members of the same family.
His plays for the stage included Next of Kin, which was produced at the National Theatre in 1974 with Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
directing.
Television work included the 1976 Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
A Story to Frighten the Children, and the 1982 adaptation of John le Carré
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
's novel Smiley's People
Smiley's People
Smiley's People is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy...
, starring Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
, both for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
; and the 1988 Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
espionage thriller Codename: Kyril
Codename: Kyril
Codename: Kyril is a 208-minute British serial, first broadcast in 1988. It is a Cold War espionage drama, starring Ian Charleson, Edward Woodward, Denholm Elliott, Joss Ackland, and Richard E. Grant...
for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
In film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Hopkins provided finishing touches to the screenplay for the 1965
1965 in film
The year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
movie Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, and also worked on the script for the 1972
1972 in film
The year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
film adaptation of Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha (film)
Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion...
, although he was removed from this project by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
when they discovered that his draft omitted most of the songs from the musical. In 1968, his stage play This Story of Yours opened, impressing actor Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
so much that he chose it as a personal film project under the working title Something Like the Truth. Connery also acted in the film version, directed by Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
and released in 1972 as The Offence
The Offence
The Offence is a 1972 drama film, based upon the acclaimed 1968 stage play This Story of Yours by John Hopkins, directed by Sidney Lumet under the working title Something Like the Truth. It stars Sean Connery as police detective Johnson, who kills Kenneth Baxter , a suspected child molester, while...
. In 1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
Hopkins wrote, directed, and produced the film Torment.
Hopkins died at his home in Woodland Hills, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in July 1998 following an accident in which he slipped, hit his head and fell unconscious into his swimming pool, where he drowned.
Family
In 1954, Hopkins married Prudence Ann Balchin, a daughter of author Nigel BalchinNigel Balchin
Nigel Balchin was an English novelist and screenwriter particularly known for his novels written during and immediately after World War II: Darkness Falls From the Air, The Small Back Room and Mine Own Executioner.-Life:He was born Nigel Marlin Balchin in Potterne, Wiltshire to...
. In 1969 he married the American actress Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
.
External links
- Museum of Broadcast Communications - page on John Hopkins